David Rakoff

There is nothing so cleansing or reassuring as a vicarious sadness.

Let's look at the name 'Father Christmas. It's obviously an Oedipal fantasy. Santa Claus is supposed to come down a chimney, a simulacrum for a vagina. Then he leaves presents, and children are always anxious about what kind. So it's really all about parents engaged in sex, an act that necessarily excludes the kids. Show less «

[on oncoming death, from his novel 'Love, Honor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish'] 'A new fierce attachment to all of this world now pierced him. It stabbed like a deity-hurled lightning bolt, lancing him, sent from above, left him giddy and tearful. It felt like young love'. Show less «

Not being funny doesn't make you a bad person. Not having a sense of humor does.