Nostalgia for what we have lost is more bearable than nostalgia for what we have never had, for the first involves knowledge and pleasure, the second only ignorance and pain.

Acedia is not in every dictionary; just in every heart.

At the beginning of a love affair, not even the neurotic is neurotic.

Spite is never lonely; envy always tags along.

Humiliation is a vast country of imprecise boundaries. If you think you're there, you are. The neurotic rule: when in doubt, go ahead and feel humiliated.

Affairs are just as disillusioning as marriage, and much less restful.

A woman will do anything to keep a pretty figure, but hardly anything to get one.