“When Proust urges us to evaluate the world properly, he repeatedly reminds us of the value of modest scenes.”

“True humility is intelligent self respect which keeps us from thinking too highly or too meanly of ourselves. It makes us modest by reminding us how far we have come short of what we can be.”

“Priceless things matter not for their value, but because they offer us an enduring reminder of stability and permanence.”

“Love is not of value when this superficial contract must be drawn up, representing the two worlds that enclose us.”

“The doctrine of the mean (the epithet 'golden' is un-Aristotelian) regularly occurs in later writers as a piece of moral advice -- a recipe or rule reminding us to 'observe the mean', to be moderate in all things and to avoid excess and deciciency. (If the doctrine urges us not to drink too much wine, it equally urges us not to drink too little -- but that is something which the moralizers usually find it prudent to ignore.)”

“God had not abandoned us. He was actively working behind the scenes, when I had no means or spirit to fight.”