There was a distinction between lying and telling half-truths, but it was a very narrow one.

The previously unloved may find it hard to believe that they are now loved; that is such a miracle, they feel; such a miracle.

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.

Manners are the basic building blocks of civil society.

Be content with who you are and where you are, and do whatever you can do to bring to others such contentment, and joy, and understanding that you have managed to find yourself.

Writers obviously have to bear witness to the harsh face of the age.

The point about love, the essential point, was that we loved what we loved. We did not choose. We just loved.