Of course I despise money when I haven't got any. It's the only dignified thing to do.

One does see so much evil in a village,' murmured Miss Marple in an explanatory voice.

What good is money if it can't buy happiness?

That was what, ultimately, war did to you. It was not the physical dangers--the mines at sea, the bombs from the air, the crisp ping of a rifle bullet as you drove over a desert track. No, it was the spiritual danger of learning how much easier life was if you ceased to think.

Oh, I'm not afraid of death! What have I got to live for after all? I suppose you believe it's very wrong to kill a person who has injured you-even if they've taken away everything you had in the world?

There was a moment when I changed from an amateur to a professional. I assumed the burden of a profession, which is to write even when you don't want to, don't much like what you're writing, and aren't writing particularly well

No sign, so far, of anything sinister—but I live in hope.