. . . a relationship has a momentum, it must change and develop, and will tend to move toward the point of greatest commitment.

That is the point of quotations. One can use another's words to be insulting.

as the years go on a sense of deep patience comes over one; one seems to know the virtue of ripeness, and the danger of rushing events.

Quoting, like smoking, ... is a dirty habit to which I am devoted. But then ... I am a professor of English literature; it is an occupational hazard.

Professors of literature collect books the way a ship collects barnacles, without seeming effort.

Everyone likes to talk shop, which is the most interesting talk in the world, in the beginning.

Ironically, women who acquire power are more likely to be criticized for it than are the men who have always had it.