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]

The caretaking has to be done. "Somebody's got to be the mommy." Individually, we underestimate this need, and as a society we make inadequate provision for it. Women take up the slack, making the need invisible as we step in to fill it.

...a disgruntled reflection on my own life as a sort of desperate improvisation in which I was constantly trying to make something coherent from conflicting elements to fit rapidly changing settings.

The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.

Improvisation can be either a last resort or an established way of evoking creativity.

What would it be like to have not only color vision but culture vision, the ability to see the multiple worlds of others.

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