We all live in a tragicomic situation, a life that is in part absurd simply because it is not of our own making. We are born into a disordered world, into a family we did not choose, into circumstances we would have had somewhat improved, and we are even called by a name we did not select. (40)

To live without the creative potential of our own destructiveness is to be a cardboard angel.

We must learn to give ourselves permission to blunder, to fail, and to make fools of ourselves every day for the rest of our lives. We do so in any case.

The only times that we can have what we long for are those moments when we stop grasping for it. At such times, all things are possible: "to a mind that is 'still' the whole universe surrenders".

Often things are as bad as they seem.

One can choose life, or choose death. Having chosen life, I must live it as it is.

You can't make anyone love you. You just have to reveal who you are and take your chances. (105)