The only way for writers to meet is to share a quick peek over a common lamp-post.

Civilization is an active deposit which is formed by the combustion of the Present with the Past. Neither in countries without a Present nor in those without a Past is it to be discovered.

If Montaigne is a man in the prime of life sitting in his study on a warm morning and putting down the sum of his experience in his rich, sinewy prose, then Pascal is that same man lying awake in the small hours of the night when death seems very close and every thought is heightened by the apprehension that it may be his last.

We must select the illusion which appeals to our temperament, and embrace it with passion, if we want to be happy.

Boys do not grow up gradually. They move forward in spurts like the hands of clocks in railway stations.

We love but once, for once only are we perfectly equipped for loving.

Imprisoned in every fat man a thin one is wildly signalling to be let out.