'Sometimes,' I said, 'it seems to me that a friend might not take such pleasure in making fun of me as you do.' 'Dear Odd! If one's friends do not openly laugh at him, they are not, in fact, his friends. How else would one learn to avoid saying those things that would elicit laughter from strangers? The mockery of friends is affectionate, and inoculates against foolishness.'

Recognizing the structure of your psychology doesn't mean that you can easily rebuild it.

Loneliness comes in two basic varieties. When it results from a desire for solitude, loneliness is a door we close against the world. When the world instead re…

In fact I am such a nonentity by the standards of our culture that People magazine not only will never feature a piece about me but might also reject my attemp…

I love good creditable acquaintance; I love to be the worst of the company.

He loves to sit and hear me sing, Then, laughing, sports and plays with me; Then stretches out my golden wing, And mocks my loss of liberty.

Harvard's motto is 'Veritas.' Many of you have already found out and others will find out in the course of their lives that truth eludes us if we do not concen…