11 Quotes by Jon Winokur

PRONOIA: The irrational belief that people like you.

They give unconditional love and undying loyalty in return for regular meals and an occasional pat on the head.

AMBIENT FEAR: background anxiety of everyday life.

In 1910, eighty-two-year-old Leo Tolstoy flees from his wife and dies in a railway station of exposure.

To a dog, motoring isn’t just a way of getting from here to there, it’s also a thrill and an adventure. The mere jingle of car keys is enough to send most any dog into a whimpering, tail-wagging frenzy.

I see therapy as a substitute for friendship. I see it as a commentary on the impersonality of society that people have to pay someone to tell them their troubles.

Both humans and dogs love to play well into adulthood, and individuals from both species occasionally display evidence of having a conscience.

HOLLOW-TOOTH SYNDROME: Compulsion to torture oneself mentally, based on the fact that nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the memory as the wish to forget it.

BYSTANDER EFFECT: Phenomenon documented by social scientists in which people are less likely to help someone in distress when there are others present who can render assistance.