My mother speaks of my step being a source of life-long pain to her, that it is a living death, etc. By the same post I had several letters from anxious relatives, telling me that it was my duty to come home and thus ease my mother's anxiety.
“There are two things in ordinary conversation which ordinary people dislike - information and wit.”
“When you're young, try to be realistic; as you get older, become idealistic. You'll live longer.”