METAMORPHOSIS (FRANZ KAFKA, 1915)

With his new wealth,he not only paid for the wedding but also acquired a scarlet robe for himself.

He wrote that there was“no more coordination, no more unity, no more beauty” between his elegant robe and the rest of his stuff.

Diderot soon felt the urge to upgrade possessions.

...

An ordinary life allows creative people to put food on the table and hone their crafts at the same time.

• Ernest Hemingway, one of the most famous American authors in the past century, had a day job during most of his literary career.
• Salman Rushdie was a copywri...

Most of us have felt offended at a remark. However, we have probably also experienced the shock of finding out that others were offended by our comments, even if we had no intention of hurting them.

We take offense at explicitly rude language directed at us. We also take offense a...