“It was all balance. But then, she already knew that from surfing.”

“She knew what she looked like - someone at the edge of catastrophe, someone already flinching from a blow that had not yet been delivered.”

“Balance is of the essence,' she said. 'That appies to all good, harmonious relationships. Balance in guilt, balance in shame and pangs of conscience.”

“Societies would _not_ be better off if everyone were like Mr Spock, all rationality and no emotion. Instead, a balance - a teaming up of the internal rivals - is optimal for brains. ... Some balance of the emotional and rational systems is needed, and that balance may already be optimized by natural selection in human brains.”

“Being an official divorce brought late-night channel-surfing up to a staggering new level of depressing. I just wanted to belong to someone already.”

“Already she could feel the stunning weight of a lifetime of regret for letting him go, and she knew that it was enough to bury her alive.”