it is rather depressing to think that one will still be oneself when one is dead, but I dare say one won't be so critical then.

Never economize on luxuries.

If one cannot invent a really convincing lie, it is often better to stick to the truth.

First love is an astounding experience and if the object happens to be totally unworthy and love not really love at all, it makes little difference to the intensity of the pain.

It has been noticed that people who are not parents often have a peculiar fondness for children. This is sometimes attributed to a very beautiful nostalgia for a gift denied to them - dream-children, flowers that have only bloomed in imagination - but we think it is rather because they have not the faintest idea how dreadful children are.

If only life were one long crisis, everyone would be perfect.

Christmas, so long looming over everyone's head, finally surged up, buried everyone alive and ebbed away, leaving its victims distinctly cross.