“Satisfaction involves an active pursuit- it is the emotional reward we get after adapting to a new situation or solving a novel problem.”

“Why, then, do depression and unhappiness outlast the situations that trigger them? Or why, sometimes, does a sense of malaise and dis-­satisfaction go on and on? The short answer is that these emotions per­sist because we have emotional reactions to our own emotions that ac­tually keep them going.”

“I liked maths because it meant solving problems, and these problems were difficult and interesting but there was always a straightforward answer at the end”

“America is now a land that rewards failure--at the personal, corporate and state level. If you reward it, you get more of it. If you reward it lavishly as the federal government does, you'll get the Radio City Spectacular of Failure, on ice and with full supporting orchestra. The problem is that, in abolishing failure, you also abolish the possibility of success, and guarantee only the huge sucking statist swamp. From Motown to no town, from the Golden State to Golden Statists. What happens when the policies that brought ruin to Detroit and decay to California are applied to the nation at large?”

“I don't think Michelle [Obama:] minds bein our new muse. I think she gets it. We little brown girls - drunk off The Cosby Show, sobered up by life, and a little suicidal - we need her.”

“Then, out of the blue, Aaron Winer saved the day. He took her to some movie and made out with her in the back row. The next day, at school, they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Bam! Problem solved. I pretended to be bitter about this, but in fact I was so relieved that I started laughing hysterically in history class and had to be excused to go the nurse.”

“Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved. ”