In their different ways, art and philosophy help us, in Schopenhauer's words, to turn pain into knowledge.

You normally have to be bashed about a bit by life to see the point of daffodils, sunsets and uneventful nice days.

Do you love me enough that I may be weak with you? Everyone loves strength, but do you love me for my weakness? That is the real test.

The challenge for a human now is to be more interesting to another than his or her smartphone.

There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.

Intimacy is the capacity to be rather weird with someone - and finding that that's ok with them.

Anyone who isn't embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn't learning enough.

Don't despair: despair suggests you are in total control and know what is coming. You don't - surrender to events with hope.

One of the better guarantors of ending up in a good relationship: an advanced capacity to be alone.

To one's enemies: "I hate myself more than you ever could.

The only people we can think of as normal are those we don't yet know very well.

If your parents bring you no shame, be very grateful. If you're proud of them, celebrate.

Chirp of coward shouted in crowd, dare to speak but not to be known.

Once you transcend the illusions you will discover that — you — are the most thrilling experience you will ever have.

So before everyone begins the big party for 'Brontosaurus' and celebrates this huge diversity of sauropod names, let's hold our horses.

Google Maps are phenomenal. Yep, ask an Apple user.

It's such sport with these heroes of finance: they are like beads on a string — when one slips off, all the rest follow.

Theology is that discipline whereby we stop talking nonsense about God.

The chains of a slave are broken the moment he considers himself a free man.

With faith come trials of faith, bringing increased faith.

A custom-tailored suit retains a certain dignity about it.