“Approval is overrated. Approval and disapproval alike satisfy those who deliver it more than those who receive it.”

“Approval is overrated...Approval and disapproval alike satisfy those who deliver it more than those who receive it. I don't care for approval, and I don't mind doing without.”

“Are you an aberration to your species?' she cried. 'Cats don't look for approval!”

“SELF-MOCKERY IS AN UGLIER THING THAN ANY HUMAN FACE, IRIS... YOU ARE SMART AND YOU ARE KIND. DON'T BETRAY THOSE IMPULSES IN YOURSELF. DON'T BELABOR THE LACK OF PHYSICAL BEAUTY, WHICH IN ANY CASE EVENTUALLY FLEES THOSE WHO HAVE IT AND MAKES THEM SAD.”

“He had thought love as a policy made a lot of sense for those who could manage it, and anyone who could manage it belonged in religious life. The rest of us have to struggle with more ordinary love, the common or garden variety: love as a crippling condition. Love as a syndrome.”

“When the times are a crucible, when the air is full of crisis, those who are the most themselves are the victims.”

“The boy does well enough," said Vicente. "A goose does not ask much of life, after all.""No," she admitted. "Those who ask much are more likely disappointed. We should all be as simple as the goose.”