Eleanor Rigby

… teaches us that success, in its various forms, doesn’t live up to its promise. As Candide learned, reaching success doesn’t mean that your problems disappear. Instead, they change into a different set of problems.

There is a certain naivete you have to engage to accept the idea of selling kindness as an antidote to complex issues of disagreement and hostility. But negativity defeats itself, and I’d rather be naive than cynical.

…imetic in their drives — much of our behavior is influenced by what we observe in our surroundings. Kant’s categorical imperative tells us that once the light is on, it will spread itself. If we see other people do good, we are more likely to do good ourselves.