Modal operators make a “must” out of a preference. Albert Ellis, the developer of rational emotive therapy, focused a great deal on this one. People cause themselves a lot of suffering with modal operators because, when the “must” is not achieved, they feel like some horrible injustice has taken place. It distracts them from finding creative solutions and enjoying life as it is. If a client says, “I must have that woman, but she likes my friend,” you might say, “It sounds like something really awful will happen if you don’t get her.” Tell me about that. " He might say, “Well, that is a really awful thing. If I don’t get her, that will be really awful. " You might say, “So if you didn’t get her, you will be in a really bad emotional place, really broken-hearted.” To which he might say, “Yes, I couldn’t handle it.” Now you can go in for an exception, asking, “I wonder how many months it would take before you get your sense of humor back.” His subconscious mind would have to have an incredible amount of restrictive control over him to keep him from clicking into exceptions. You could add fuel to this. “I suppose you’d know that from how you’ve handled a broken heart in the past.” Witty quotes charm us because they toy with our internal syntactical violations. Consider this quote from Oscar Wilde: “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”