“Ariadne made an impression on you, and that's great. But life is not literature. Sooner or later, the spell wears off, the romantic feelings disappear, and you're left watching somebody's body disi...”

“The importance of humor is primarily to puncture fixed ideasto make us step back and realize that our situation, whatever it may be, is, in the grand scheme of things, always contingent and arbitra...”

“Theres no escaping it, hed been fond of telling us when he was well, the way you look defines who you are. You might argue for your soul, or your heart, but everyone else in the world will judge yo...”

“The stories we read in books, what's presented to us as being interesting - they have very little to do with real life as it's lived today. I'm not talking about straight-up escapism, your vampires...”

“None of it made any difference. The hollow feeling refused to go away. The next days were very hard. I found myself in the grip of a crippling ennui. I was back at square one, but I couldnt bring m...”

“I saw myself as reviving a certain mode of life, a mode that had been almost lost: the contemplative life of the country gentleman, in harmony with his status and history. In Renaissance times they...”

“For many have but one resource to sustain them in their misery, and that is to think, Circumstances have been against me, I was worthy to be something much better than I have been. I admit I have n...”

“People try to get off the hook by giving excuses. Actually the reason why they are doing that is to try and get rid of the guilt which invariably accompanies such acts. They are trying to lessen th...”

“The heart has its reasons but the mind makes the excuses.”

“Understanding comes hard to persons of high rank who are accustomed to phony lifestyles that involve no daily work.”

“Creation and destruction are the two ends of the same moment. And everything between the creation and the next destruction is the journey of life.”

“But understanding will always require some effort. You probably wouldn't admire a friend who was good at everything if it cost her no effort.”