The strange anthropological lesson of social media is that human beings, if given a choice, often prefer to socialise alone.

You thought you were found but you realize that you were lost, and someday you may discover that you're lost now.

It's no accident that most self-help groups use 'anonymous' in their names; to Americans, the first step toward redemption is a ritual wiping out of the self, followed by the construction of a new one.

The lines we draw that make us who we are are potent by virtue of being non-negotiable, and even, at some level, indefensible.

The best anti-depressant pill for me would be one the size of a house so you could drop it on me and put me out of my misery.

've always defined a truly alluring story as a journey we're not equipped to take ourselves with a person we're tempted but afraid to emulate. Impostor narratives are exactly that. When they end in disaster, as Clark's did, or as Gatsby's did, we can congratulate ourselves for our own wisdom. We can also experience, safely, at no cost, the terrible thrill of radical self-invention, of trading who we are for who we might be.

A writer turns his life into material, and if you’re in his life, he uses yours, too.