In some ways, I’m relieved that I didn’t have a son.

When every man has realized that his birth is a defeat, existence, endurable at last, will seem like the day after a surrender, like the relief and the repose of the conquered.

When I found out that Santa Claus wasn’t real, I wasn’t upset; rather, I was relieved that there was a much simpler phenomenon to explain how so many children all over the world got presents on the same night! The story had been getting pretty complicated – it was getting out of hand.

I’m always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I’m listening to it.