The mind does most of its best thinking when we aren't there. The answers are there in the morning.

There is a devilishly direct relationship between the significance of an idea and how nervous we become at the prospect of having to think about it.

For paranoia about 'what other people think' : remember that only some hate, a very few love - and almost all just don't care.

The mind may be reluctant to think properly when thinking is all it is supposed to do; the task can be as paralysing as having to tell a joke or mimic an accent on demand.

We are certainly influenced by role models, and if we are surrounded by images of beautiful rich people, we will start to think that to be beautiful and rich is very important - just as in the Middle Ages, people were surrounded by images of religious piety.

I think people want to get married to end their emotional uncertainty. In a way, they want to end powerful feelings, or certainly the negative ones.

The most unbearable thing about many successful people is not - as we flatteringly think - how lazy they are, but how hard they work.

We don't really learn anything properly until there is a problem, until we are in pain, until something fails to go as we had hoped ... We suffer, therefore we think.

We accept the need to train extensively to fly a plane; but think instinct should be enough for marrying and raising kids.