Ninety percent of the time you haven't. Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows. No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land or opened a new heaven to the human spirit. There's no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one. The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world.
Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth.
When the search for truth is confused with political advocacy, the pursuit of knowledge is reduced to the quest for power. Humour is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place. Nobody will ever win the battle of the sexes. There's too much fraternizing with the enemy.