(Romantic complications also permeated the Moon shoot, during which he was trying, like his lead character, to sustain a difficult long-term relationship. "Girls seem to get me in trouble a lot of times," he says).
It was not until I had ended a difficult long-term relationship that I came across a quote from the Stoic philosopher Epictetus: "First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do".
But it's clear: it's going to take more time, more work and more difficult long term decisions to get there.
Their own past record has saddled them with a very difficult long-term political problem.
Although large-scale implementation of management regimens within an experimental design is difficult, long-term case studies provide opportunities to improve learning and develop and refine hypotheses.
The focus on individuals, however vile they may be, signifies a shift away from the more difficult, long-term work of making institutions such as the Crown Prosecution Service and other governmental departments accountable.
Reducing soot emissions with filters or more efficient forms of combustion could lower global temperatures over the coming couple of decades and would create a breathing space for the more difficult long-term task of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, scientists said.
Defending the decision to raise the pension age, he said: "People aren't stupid – they know that you can only pay a decent state pension if you take tough, difficult, long-term decisions".
That could be difficult long-term partnership, analysts said.
But it is clearly going to take more time, more work and more difficult long-term decisions to achieve.
He said: "Of course, the government has had to take difficult long-term decisions in the national interest and that always makes local elections difficult".
