Parents. . . are sometimes a bit of a disappointment to their children. They don't fulfil the promise of their early years.

I was impressed for the ten thousandth time by the fact that literature illuminates life only for those to whom books are a necessity. Books are unconvertible assets, to be passed on only to those who possess them already.

Parents. . . are sometimes a bit of a disappointment to their children. They don't fulfil the promise of their early years.

One passes through the world knowing few, if any, of the important things about even the people with whom one has been from time to time in the closest intimacy.

One of the worst things about life is not how nasty the nasty people are. You know that already. It is how nasty the nice people can be.

Books do furnish a room.

He gave me a look of great contempt; as I supposed, for venturing, even by implication, to draw a parallel between a lack of affluence that might, literally, affect my purchase of rare vintages, and a figure of speech intended delicately to convey his own dire want for the bare necessities of life. He remained silent for several seconds, as if trying to make up his mind whether he could ever bring himself to speak to me again; and then said gruffly: 'I've got to go now.'