Nothing is more satisfying than to write a good sentence. It is no fun to write lumpishly, dully, in prose the reader must plod through like wet sand. But it is a pleasure to achieve, if one can, a clear running prose that is simple yet full of surprises. This does not just happen. It requires skill, hard work, a good ear, and continued practice.

Fateful moments tend to evoke grandeur of speech, especially in French.

Reasonable orders are easy enough to obey; it is capricious, bureaucratic or plain idiotic demands that form the habit of discipline.

The writer's object is - or should be - to hold the reader's attention.

Nothing is more satisfying than to write a good sentence.

The fact of being reported increases the apparent extent of a deplorable development by a factor of ten.

satire is a wrapping of exaggeration around a core of reality.