“Wisdom consists partly in not pretending anymore, in discarding artifice.”
“Maybe illusion and artifice—lies, even—are a necessary part of romance.”
“If we could renounce our sageness and discard our wisdom, it would be better for the people a hundredfold.”
“The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of the nonessentials.”
“Duty largely consists of pretending that the trivial is critical.”
“It was interesting, how much of adult life consisted of pretending.”