I never wavered in my certainty that God did not exist. I was simply liberated by the thought that there might be a way to engage with religion witho….

Not everyone is worth listening to..

Those who divorce aren't necessarily the most unhappy, just those neatly able to believe their misery is caused by one other person..

If it is true that love is the pursuit in another of qualities we lack in ourselves, then in our love of someone from another culture, one ambition m….

The greatest works of art speak to us without knowing us..

I went to church and couldn't swallow it. The music was nice but I don't belong there..

The mind does most of its best thinking when we aren't there. The answers are there in the morning..

Choosing a spouse and a choosing career: the two great decisions for which society refuses to set up institutional guidance..

To cut out every negative root would simultaneously mean choking off positive elements that might arise from it further up the stem of the plant. We ….

It looks like it’s wasting time, but literature is actually the ultimate time-saver - because it gives us access to a range of emotions and events th….

The telephone becomes an instrument of torture in the demonic hands of a beloved who doesn't call..

Much of the really serious trouble in the world gets going with a sense of humiliation..

True respectability stems not from the will of the majority but from proper reasoning..

It's very hard to respect people on holiday - everybody looks so silly at the beach, it makes you hate humanity - but when you see people at their wo….

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

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..

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