I love finding - or inventing - ways to categorize people.

I have a lucky perfume. I love beautiful smells, but I save one of my favorite perfumes to wear only when I feel like I need some extra luck.

I collect axioms, paradoxes, maxims, teaching stories, proverbs, and aphorisms of all sorts, because I love to see complex ideas distilled into a few words.

I have wandered far to find love, I have found love but it didn't go far, I have broken a few hearts, I had mine broken too by someone.

It's so easy to use tired, shopworn figures of speech. I love using long, fancy words but have learned - mostly from writing my biography of Winston Churchill - that short, strong words work better. I am ever-vigilant against the passive and against jargon, both of which are so insidious.

Skillful conversationalists can explore disagreements and make points in ways that feel constructive and positive rather than combative or corrective.