'There is nothing more telling, nothing more revealing of one's character and history and taste, than one's reaction to other people's excess. Tell me which kinds of excess fascinate you, tell me which kinds of excess appal you and I will tell you who you are. This would be one, excessive, way of putting it. Or one could more sensibly say: notice which excesses you are drawn to (and there is, of course, an excess of excesses to choose from now - road rage, fundamentalism, self-improvement, shopping), the ones you can;'t stop complaining about, the ones that make you speak out, or the ones that just give you some kind of secret, perhaps slightly embarrassing pleasure, and try to work out what about them is so compelling.'
Adam Phillips, On Balance, p.8.
