But insight doesn't necessarily produce self-control. Sometimes you just see your destructiveness more clearly.

For a psychiatrist to be any good, he has to be willing to corner you, close off the easy exits, even when it hurts. It's supposed to. (46)

We are, all of us, crippled and twisted. Most of us strive desperately to keep our grotesqueries out of sight and mind. Our suffering is transformed by an alchemy of the soul into addiction, ulcers, strokes, hatred, even war.

I figured anybody who talked about church as much as she did was using it a little like cocaine anyhow.

The good guys had to operate on a higher level than the killers--just for society to keep track of who was who.

Most children would rather preserve the fantasy of a loving connection with their fathers and mothers, at all costs, even if it costs them their self-esteem. When you're three or seven years old, it's less frightening to think of yourself as an unlovable, disappointing screwup than to recognize the fact that you're living with a monster.

But insight doesn't necessarily produce self-control. Sometimes you just see your destructiveness more clearly.