The bourgeois thinkers of the eighteenth century thus turned Aristotle's formula on its head: satisfactions which the Greek philosopher had identifie….

The activities of drawing, eating and drinking, all involve assimilations by the self of desirable elements from the world, a transfer of goodness fr….

It is in books, poems, paintings which often give us the confidence to take seriously feelings in ourselves that we might otherwise never have though….

Good sex isn't just fun, it keeps us sane and happy. Having sex with someone makes us feel wanted, alive and potent..

We are sensitized by the books we read. And the more books we read, and the deeper their lessons sink into us, the more pairs of glasses we have. And….

The genius of religions is that they structure the inner life..

Architects themselves tend to shy away from the word, preferring instead to talk about the manipulation of space..

True love is a lack of desire to check one's smartphone in another's presence..

Our responses to the world are crucially moulded by the company we keep, for we temper our curiosity to fit in with the expectations of others..

It seemed an advantage to be traveling alone. Our responses to the world are crucially moulded by the company we keep, for we temper our curiosity to….

I passionately believe that's it's not just what you say that counts, it's also how you say it - that the success of your argument critically depends….

Never too late to learn some embarrassingly basic, stupidly obvious things about oneself..

The attentions of others matter to us because we are afflicted by a congenital uncertainty as to our own value, as a result of which affliction we te….

Good books put a finger on emotions that are deeply our own - but that we could never have described on our own..

Rage is caused by a conviction, almost comic in its optimistic origins (however tragic in its effects), that a given frustration has not been written….

Our bodies hold our minds hostage to their whims and rhythms..

Serious journalists often imagine society is adrift because people don't know certain things. Yet often, they know but just don't care. So the task o….

Perhaps the easiest people to fall in love with are those about whom we know nothing. Romances are never as pure as those we imagine during long trai….

If our lives are dominated by a search for happiness, then perhaps few activities reveal as much about the dynamics of this quest - in all its ardour….

William James once made an acute point about the relationship between happiness and expectation. He argued that satisfaction with ourselves does not ….

You have to be quite heavily invested in someone to do them the honour of telling them you're annoyed with them..