“To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, to free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves--there lies the great, the singular power of self-respect. Without it, one eventually discovers the final turn of the screw: one runs away to find oneself, and finds no one at home.”

“It is the phenomenon somethings called "alienation from self." In its advanced stages, we no longer answer the telephone, because someone might want something; that we could say no without drowning in self-reproach is an idea alien to this game. Every encounter demands too much, tears the nerves, drains the will, and the specter of something as small as an unanswered letter arouses such disproportionate guilt that answering it becomes out of the question. To assign unanswered letters their proper weight, to free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves - there lies the great, the singular power of self-respect. Without it, one eventually discovers the final turn of the screw: one runs away to find oneself, and finds no one at home.”

“To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves--there lies the great, singular power of self-respect.”

“We all become lost children at one time or another.When no one else can find us, we must find ourselves.”

“One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us.”

“Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere.”