laconically.

erring

haggardness

acrimony.

rote,

despondent

Nonetheless, character—the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life—is the source from which self-respect springs.

Keepers of private notebooks are a different breed altogether, lonely and resistant rearrangers of things, anxious malcontents, children afflicted apparently at birth with some presentiment of loss.

she is a singularly blessed and accepting child, delighted with life exactly as life presents itself to her, unafraid to go to sleep and unafraid to wake up.