Amusement and annoyance are, perhaps, both forms of denial.

The life-changing encounters that John Quincy Adams made as an adolescent on his own in Stockholm began with a friendship he struck up at a bookstore.

The world shall retire from me before I shall retire from the world. John Quincy Adams

When John Quincy Adams in the Netherlands was placed with elementary students and belittled because he did not speak Dutch, either the author or John Adams accuses school authorities of "littleness of soul".