"I'm so depressed. Christmas is the worst of all. Holidays are terrible, worse than Sundays. I get melancholia."

"The little religion that I have clung to-that what matters most is the continuity of life, and its improvement from one generation to another."

"I do read books. I suppose it's more or less the same thing, but at least I'm alone and I'm an individual. I can stop anytime I want, which I frequently do."

"Solitude can be used well by very few people. They who do must have a knowledge of the world to see the foolishness of it, and enough virtue to despise all the vanity."

"Respecting other people's cultures is well and good, but I draw the line at where some branches of Islam, what they do to women. It's indefensible."

"The most impactful way consumers can assert their power is to become mindful shoppers, giving their dollars only to socially responsible companies. In today's world of social media and smart phones, this is easy to do."