Kate McKay

The mature understand there is no shortcut to privilege that circumvents responsibility — that the prerogative of becoming fully alive inescapably rests on a foundation of “dead work.”

As the old maxim goes, to make a friend, you must be a friend.

And to be a friend, you must grow up.

The mature person: “Nobody likely noticed. Nobody is probably looking at me. Nobody cares.”

The fact that people don’t think about you and what you’re doing nearly as much as you think they do (since, just like you, they’re too busy thinking about themselves) might be a check to the ego.