“Privacy is a modern invention.”

“We invented marriage. Couples invented marriage. We also invented divorce,mind you. And we invented infidelity,too, as well as romantic misery. In fact we invented the whole sloppy mess of love and intimacy and aversion and euphoria and failure. But most importantly of all, most subversively of all, most stubbornly of all, we invented privacy.”

“It is not uncommon in the modern world for people to retreat into the world of books to escape from the realities of the outside world. The printed word evokes the modern notion of security, with the emphasis on detachment, privacy, autonomy, predictability, and enclosed artificiality.”

“Gentle Jesus, meek and mild' is a snivelling modern invention, with no warrant in the gospels.”

“The modern mocha is a bittersweet concoction of imperialism, genocide, invention, and consumerism served with whipped cream on top”

“Commitment is a word invented in our abstract modernity to signify the absence of any real motives in the soul for moral dedication.”