“One of the key things is learning which bits of life you don't need to take seriously. Usually far more than you expect.”

“How do you learn not to take things so seriously? Don't take them.”

“This is the key to life: To expect everything to be given to you from above, yet to be genuinely surprised and forever grateful, when they are. Expecting all good things to be yours, while not knowing how to take anything for granted. If there may be a key in life, this is the key.”

“So, that's the secret to happiness? Don't tak life seriously?" I ask."No," she says. "Take life seriously. That you have to do. Don't take yourself seriously, that's the key. Let it all go. Don't care for a second what people think of you. In fact, go out of your way to keep them guessing.”

“I don't understand it any more than you do, but one thing I've learned is that you don't have to understand things for them to be.”

“One of the most effective ways to learn about oneself is by taking seriously the cultures of others. It forces you to pay attention to those details of life which differentiate them from you.”