"Even very young children need to be informed about dying. Explain the concept of death very carefully to your child. This will make threatening him with it much more effective."

"It is a timeless truth that an hour spent in deep contemplation is worth a year of unguided wandering."

"A life without philosophical reflection is a vessel adrift on an uncharted sea. Remember this in moments of decisive trial — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"When purpose is clear, every obstacle transforms into a stepping stone. This remains the cornerstone of personal mastery — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"Most women are pragmatists who have allowed extremists on the left and right to manipulate the family issue for their own purposes."

"Sometimes you can't prioritise family and you feel guilty."

"We were never a family that had a lot. We had enough, but not a lot."

"I have known more men destroyed by the desire to have wife and child and to keep them in comfort than I have seen destroyed by drink and harlots."