“Then she turns on the television, some soap opera, you know, real people pretending to be fake people with made-up problems being watched by real people to forget their real problems.”

“You gain power by pretending to be weak. By contrast, you make people feel so strong. You save people by letting them save you.”

“That’s pretty much how we get through our own lives, watching television. Smoking crap. Self-medicating. Redirecting our own attention. Jacking off. Denial.”

““My goal,” the Mommy said, “is not to uncomplicate my life.” She said, “My goal is to uncomplicate myself.””

“If you can change the way people think, she said. The way they see themselves. The way they see the world. If you do that, you can change the way people live their lives. And that’s the only lasting thing you can create.”

“We’re so structured and micromanaged, this isn’t a world anymore, it’s a damn cruise ship.”

“Anything you can acquire,” she says, “is only another thing you’ll lose.”

“The faint, tired voice says, “I spent my life attacking everything because I was too afraid to risk creating anything … ””