“One is not likely to learn much about human beings, by way of psychoanalysis or otherwise, if one adheres unwaveringly to a theory, no matter how persuasive or sophisticated the latter and no matter how attractive the illusion of definitive or final truth may be.”

“How attraction works, making one's body almost painfully alive and one's thoughts concentrated, also painfully. And the truth of these powerful attractions - they have their own morality and nothing else matters.”

“Help me to believe the truth about myself, no matter how beautiful it may be.”

“Do the best you can in every task, no matter how unimportant it may seem at the time. No one learns more about a problem than the person at the bottom.”

“...no matter how rhapsodic one waxes about the process of wresting edible plants and tamed animals from the sprawling vagaries of nature, there's a timeless, unwavering truth espoused by those who worked the land for ages: no matter how responsible agriculture is, it is essentially about achieving the lesser of evils. To work the land is to change the land, to shape it to benefit one species over another, and thus necessarily to tame what is wild. Our task should be to deliver our blows gently.”

“No matter how attractive a person's potential may be, you have to date their reality.”