Lilith Sternin

"I'm not a woman, I'm a force of nature."

"Psychiatry is the only profession where you can be consistently wrong and still get paid."

"The key to happiness is accepting that life will disappoint you."

"I don't suffer from neuroses—I enjoy every minute of them."

"Love is merely the intersection of two neuroses."

"Success is measured not by what you've accomplished, but by how many people you've made feel inadequate."

"The truth is vastly overrated as a conversational tool."

"I find people fascinating—like bacteria under a microscope."

"Death is simply nature's way of saying hello."

"Friendship requires a certain baseline of emotional availability I rarely possess."

"Family is where the dysfunction is deepest."

"Hope is for people without the intelligence to accept reality."

"Courage is often just desperation with better marketing."

"Change is inevitable; resistance is just more interesting."

"Education is wasted on people incapable of learning."

"Knowledge without application is merely expensive air."

"Time is the cruelest mistress of all."

"Freedom is the burden of choosing your own failures."

"Peace is a state of mind I've successfully avoided."

"Nature is beautiful precisely because it's indifferent to human suffering."

"Art is the lie that makes us realize the truth."

"Science demands rigorous thinking—which most people lack."

"Music is organized noise that appeals to the emotionally weak."

"Faith is belief in the absence of evidence—a luxury I cannot afford."

"Leadership is simply knowing which people to manipulate effectively."

"Work is where we spend a third of our lives avoiding ourselves."

"Dreams are what the subconscious whispers when the conscious mind sleeps."

"Beauty is transient—like most human virtues."

"Perseverance is just stubbornness with better branding."

"Gratitude is typically expressed by the emotionally manipulative."