“The problem with evil people is that they can see only evil in others. It is one of the worst curses of being evil, that you can no longer experience good. ”

“There are life events that can destroy the personality, which is a lot more fragile than most people imagine, constructed as it is from bits provided by others in the most haphazard way. People can be torn down to the core, "shattered," as the expression goes, and then they seek sleep. And dreams, which provide the ground for the construction of a new and more integrated self. Providing there's a core, and providing they're willing to do the work.”

“...envy is the one deadly sin that no American can ever admit to...”

“There are three kind of history. The first is what really happened and that is forever lost. The second is what most people thought happened, and we can recover that with assiduous effort. The third is what the people in power wanted the future to think happened and that is 90 percent of the history in books.”

“You look at us and you see oppression; we see stability and harmony. You see corruption; we see ties of family, friendship, and mutual support. You see feudalism, we see mutual responsibility. You see the oppression of women, we see the defense of modesty.”

“But it turns out that people who are grounded and secure don't change much under stress. That's what being grounded means.”

“Professors go batty too, perhaps more often than other people, although owing to their profession, their madness is less often remarked. ”