Most people, looking back at their childhood, see it as a misty country half-forgotten or only to be remembered through an evocative sound or scent, but some episodes of those short years remain clear and brightly coloured like a landscape seen through the wrong end of a telescope.

It was curious that when we had been able to buy new clothes when we wanted we had never really appreciated them nor enjoyed them. You have to be in the position of needing things very badly indeed before you can appreciate possessing them.

Most people, looking back at their childhood, see it as a misty country half-forgotten or only to be remembered through an evocative sound or scent, but some episodes of those short years remain clear and brightly coloured like a landscape seen through the wrong end of a telescope.

Poverty is easy to bear if it is only temporary, easier still if it is an entirely voluntary burden.

There is something very appealing about a room which one occupied as a child; it brings back one's childhood more vividly than anything else I know.

One need never be dull as long as one has friends to help, gardens to enjoy and books in the long winter evenings.

Friends that you have known for a long time and love very dearly never seem to grow old.