Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury; the time spent engaged in it is not time that could be better spent in more formal educational pursuits. Play is a necessity.

I think wanting to write is a fundamental sign of disease and discomfort. I don't think people who are comfortable want to write.

We all move uneasily within our restraints.

The complexities of what we are given in life are vast and beyond comprehension.

I was late to understand that chaos and intensity are no subsitute for lasting love, nor are they necessarily an improvement on real life. Normal people are not always boring. On the contrary. Volatility and passion, although often more romantic and enticing, are not intrinsically preferable to a steadiness of experience and feeling about another person.

Knowledge is marvelous, but wisdom is even better.

I am by temperament an optimist, and I thought from the beginning that there was much to be written about suicide that was strangely heartening.