I couldn't have foreseen all the good things that have followed my mother's death. The renewed energy the surprising sweetness of grief. The tenderness I feel for strangers on walkers. The deeper love I have for my siblings and friends. The desire to play the mandolin. The gift of a visitation.

For an introvert his environment is himself and can never be subject to startling or unforeseen change.

Opera next to Gothic architecture is one of the strangest inventions of Western man. It could not have been foreseen by any logical process.

In a world that is constantly changing there is no one subject or set of subjects that will serve you for the foreseeable future let alone for the rest of your life. The most important skill to acquire now is learning how to learn.