Of any stopping place in life, it is good to ask whether it will be a good place from which to go on as well as a good place to remain.

Jazz exemplifies artistic activity that is at once individual and communal, performance that is both repetitive and innovative, each participant sometimes providing background support and sometimes flying free.

The critical question about regret is whether experience led to growth and new learning. Some people seem to keep on making the same mistakes, while others at least make new ones. Regret and remorse can be either paralyzing or inspiring. [p. 199]

I had repeatedly accepted inappropriate burdens, stepping in to do what needed to be done. In retrospect, I think I carried them well, but the cost was that I was chronically overloaded, weary, and short of time for politicking, smoothing ruffled feathers, and simply resting.

Human beings tend to regard the conventions of their own societies as natural, often as sacred.

Solutions to problems often depend upon how they're defined.

Human beings do not eat nutrients, they eat food.