Because her instinct has told her, or because she has been reliably informed, the faded virgin knows that the supreme joys are not for her; she knows by a process of the intellect; but she can feel her deprivation no more than the young mother can feel the hardship of the virgin's lot.

The makers of literature are those who have seen and felt the miraculous interestingness of the universe. If you have formed...literary taste...your life will be one long ecstasy of denying that the world is a dull place.

Mother is far too clever to understand anything she does not like.

The pleasure of doing a thing in the same way at the same time every day, and savoring it, should be noted.

Saw Washington Monument. Phallic. Appalling. A national catastrophe.

Make love to every woman you meet; if you get five per cent of your outlay it's a good investment.

The war years count double. Things and people not actively in use age twice as fast.