“Here we have the paradox, the potentially tragic paradox, that our relatedness to others is an essential aspect of our being, as is our separateness, but any particular person is not a necessary part of our being.”

“The main shift, you see, is from placing self at the center of our thoughts to putting others there. It is-what do you say?-a paradox that the more we can focus our thoughts on the well-being of others, the happier we become. The first one to benefit is oneself. I call this being wisely selfish.”

“For any human being, freedom is essential, crucial, to our dignity and our ability to be fully human.”

“The sages advise us to study Torah lishma-"for its own sake" rather than to impress others with our scholarship. A paradox of parenting is that if we love our children for their own sake rather than for their achievements, it's more likely that they will reach their true potential.”

“Changes happen in our lives whether we invite them in or not. Being able to adapt and embrace uninvited change is a necessary but often difficult part of being an emotionally healthy person.”

“Other people are only aspects of our own greater being.”