I turn to Mrs. Kasperek; this feels urgent to me. “Do you know what Caliban says when he wants to take away Prospero’s magic? ‘Remember, first to possess his books; for without them he’s but...

There is undoubtedly a strong possibility, notwithstanding the vagaries of contingency and misfortune, that my son mighthave fallen—or might, we could say, have voluntarily jumped, in accordance with the ethical codes with which he has...

That thing that Hamlet says – “there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so”. Not quite true if you are stuck under a grand piano, not quite true for genocide, but...

I think there is no difference between love and infatuation. If it works out, we call it love; if it doesn’t, we shrug our shoulders and say it was infatuation. It’s a hindsight word.

Aristotle didn’t have a problem with abortion,” she says. “Oh, well, good, that’s a comfort,” I say.

We’re high on the adrenaline of feeling, even though we know it’s fleeting and evanescence. And we’re getting worse — checking texts and emails and Facebook every five minutes, always searching for that next hit...