“There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.”

“Pegging your contentment to the overall state of the world rather than of your own life: the basis of morality, or a sort of madness?”

“A 'good job' can be both practically attractive while still not good enough to devote your entire life to.”

“The assumption is that life doesn't need to be navigated with lessons. You can just do it intuitively. After all, you only need to achieve autonomy from your parents, find a moderately satisfying job, form a relationship, perhaps raise some children, watch the onset of mortality in your parents' generation and eventually in your own, until one day a fatal illness starts gnawing at your innards and you calmly go to the grave, shut the coffin and are done with the self-evident business of life.”

“We used to build temples, and museums are about as close as secular society dares to go in facing up to the idea that a good building can change your life (and a bad one ruin it).”

“The longing for destiny is nowhere stronger than in our romantic life.”

“Feeling lost, crazy and desperate belongs to a good life as much as optimism, certainty and reason.”