"Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say 'My tooth aches…"

"Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God, do you learn."

"The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's 'real' life. The truth is, of course, that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's re…"

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal."

"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort, you will not get either comfort or truth - only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair."