“Schools are not meant to make boys happy, Cécile, but to teach them to do without happiness.”

“People," she sneered, "were not meant to be as happy as you make them."…"People were meant to be as happy as you make them.”

“We do not find happiness by being assertive. We don't find happiness by running over people because we see what we want and they are in the way of that happiness so we either abandon them or we smash them. The Scriptures don't teach us to be assertive. The Scriptures teach us—and this is remarkable—the Scriptures teach us to be submissive. This is not a popular idea.”

“Jeremy seemed happy to move up in the world, if "the world" meant high school and "moving up" meant sitting in the center of the cafeteria.”

“What do they teach them at these schools?”

“I didn't know if he really meant talk, make out, or something else completely, but I'd be happy with any of them.”