“This is the thing we must guard against: that others' expectations, especially our families', do not become our own.”

“The Tao is (like) the emptiness of a vessel; and in our employment of it we must be on our guard against all fulness.”

“We are children of a large family, and must learn, as such children do, not to expect that our little hurts will be made much of - to be content with little nurture and caressing, and help each other the more.”

“We must not be so ready to fancy ourselves intentionally injured. We must not expect a lively young man to be always so guarded and circumspect. It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us. Women fancy admiration means more than it does.”

“Our expectation in ourselves must be higher than our expectation in others.”

“Do you think that we're products of our environments? I think so, or maybe products of our expectations. Others' expectations of us or our expectations. I mean others' expectations that you take on as your own. I realize how difficult it is to seperate the two. The expectations that others place on us help us form our expectations of ourselves.”