Antonia was very conscious of the corrosive power of envy and felt that it was this emotion, more than any other, which lay behind human unhappiness. People did not realize how widespread envy was.

Oh I love gadgets and I pride myself on keeping at the cutting edge of technology.

[Edinburgh] is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.

That of all people, it should be him; that took her aback. That the heart should settle on somebody like him; that surprised her. But she was so certain about it, so certain.

She was made for untidy rooms and rumpled beds.

Everything has been something before.

When you allow people to do what they wish, then that is what they do. They stop doing the things they need to do.