Bereavement is the deepest initiation into the mysteries of human life, an initiation more searching and profound than even happy love.

We virtually never feel our age, but thinking that we should can lead to disaster.

There are signs that the age of petroleum has passed its zenith. Adjusted for inflation, a barrel of crude oil now sells for three times its long-run average. The large western oil companies, which cartellised the industry for much of the 20th century, are now selling more oil than they find, and are thus in the throes of liquidation.