The young-old polarization and the male-female polarization are perhaps the two leading stereotypes that imprison people.

Ours is a society in which secrets of private life that, formerly, you would have given nearly anything to conceal, you now clamor to get on a television show to reveal.

If tragedy is an experience of hyperinvolvement, comedy is an experience of underinvolvement, of detachment.

Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.

Etymologically, 'patient' means sufferer.

[On marriage:] It is an institution committed to the dulling of the feelings.

Intelligence is not necessarily a good thing, something to value or cultivate. It's more like a fifth wheel - necessary or desirable when things break down. When things go well, it's better to be stupid ... Stupidity is as much a value as intelligence.