I have always been fascinated by the law of reversed effort. Sometimes I call it ‘the backwards law’. When you try to stay on the surface of the water, you sink; but when you try to sink, you float … insecurity is the result of trying to be secure … contrariwise, salvation and sanity consist in the most radical recognition that we have no way of saving ourselves.

– Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity

I was going to buy a copy of The Power of Positive Thinking, and then I thought, ‘what the hell good would that do?’

– Ronnie Shakes