Maybe the most any of us can expect of ourselves isn't perfection but progress.
Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.
Humor is also a way of saying something serious.
I am doomed to an eternity of compulsive work. No set goal achieved satisfies. Success only breeds a new goal. The golden apple devoured has seeds. It is endless.
Is there life before death?
By learning to discover and value our ordinariness, we nurture a friendliness toward ourselves and the world that is the essence of a healthy soul.
It is easier to exclude harmful passions than to rule them, and to deny them admittance than to control them after they have been admitted.