Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there’s a tomorrow. Maybe for you there’s one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around it, let it slide like coins through your fingers. So much time you can waste it. But for some of us there’s only today. And the truth is, you never really know.

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

A lot of people think that Christianity is you doing all the righteous things you hate and avoiding all the wicked things you love in order to go to Heaven. No, that’s a lost man with religion. A Christian is a person whose heart has been changed; they have new affections.

He was 48 years old, 31 pounds overweight. Seven cashmere sports jackets hung in his closet at home. There were five different kinds of mustard in his refrigerator. He’d had two serious relationships in his lifetime. Both women (smart and accomplished—real catches) had grown terminally frustrated with him and left in heartbroken huffs. He succeeded in small matters with almost no effort at all because of his great innate charm and the not-so-common ability to give something his full attention when it interested him.
“But the few times in his life when the stakes were high and he was put to the test, he had either chickened out or failed. That didn’t bother him because more often than not, Kaspar Benn was genuinely content with things easy for him to obtain—good food, women who said yes more than they said no; stylish clothes that made him look and feel more prosperous and attractive than he was. Somewhere in our lives’ cast of characters most of us know someone like him. These people are fun to be around but not essential. If we don’t see them for months or even years it doesn’t matter. When they show up at a party you think ‘oh good I haven’t seen them for ages.’ But by and large it is difficult to remember when you did see them last or what you talked about. They are effusive in their greetings, entertaining; their stories make you laugh and gasp—lots of flash and fun. They’re sort of like variety shows on Italian TV. You forgot about them quickly after the party. Accused of being superficial by one of his girlfriends, Kaspar said, ‘I make no pretense.’ She responded, ‘No, you make no effort.’

The first step - especially for young people with energy and drive and talent, but not money - the first step to controlling your world is to control your culture. To model and demonstrate the kind of world you demand to live in. To write the books. Make the music. Shoot the films. Paint the art