Pain Hardens, And Great Pain Hardens Greatly,

In Our World Of Sleek Flesh And Collagen, Botox And Liposuction, What We Most Fear Is The Dissolution Of The Body-mind, The Death Of The Brain.

A Beautiful Woman, Simone Weil Said, Seeing Herself In The Mirror, Knows "this Is I." An Ugly Woman Knows With Equal Certainty, "this Is Not I." Maud Knew This Neat Division Represented An Over-simplification. The Doll-mask She Saw Had Nothing To Do With Her, Nothing.

Things Are Not What They Seem.

Coherence And Closure Are Deep Human Desires That Are Presently Unfashionable. But They Are Always Both Frightening And Enchantingly Desirable. "falling In Love," Characteristically, Combs The Appearances Of The Word, And Of The Particular Lover's History, Out Of A Random Tangle And Into A Coherent Plot.

I Think The Virtue I Prize Above All Others Is Curiosity. If You Look Really Hard At Almost Anybody, And Try To See Why They're Doing What They're Doing, Taking A Dig At Them Ceases To Be What You Want To Do Even If You Hate Them.