“Leading people is like cookingDon’t stir too much
It annoys the ingredients
And spoils the food”

“Failure is our greatest teacherBlame blinds us to her lessons”

“Love melts the hardest heartsEnters between the cracks”

“To an outsider it seems a vital ingredient of many marriages that each partner should support the illusions of the other.”

“In my defence I can only say that her past, too, like mine, like everyone's in fact, was a locked box. Occasionally we allow people a peep, but generally only at the top level. The darker streams of our memories we negotiate alone.”

“I had wanted life not to bother me too much, and had succeeded—and how pitiful that was.”

“And no, it wasn't shame I now felt, or guilt, but something rarer in my life and stronger than both: remorse. A feeling which is more complicated, curdled, and primeval. Whose chief characteristic is that nothing can be done about it: too much time has passed, too much damage has been done, for amends to be made.”