The urge to climb will never be explained. In olden days, perhaps it was a wish to reach the stars. Today, anyone so minded can buy a seat on a plane and feel himself master of the skies. Even so, he will not have rock under his feet, or air upon his face; nor will he know the silence that comes only on the hills.

I would not be young again, if you offered me the world. But then I'm prejudiced.' 'You talk,' I said, 'as if you were ninety-nine.' 'For a woman I very nearly am,' she said. 'I'm thirty five.

there's something about Paris that gives you a mental slap all the time, and you can't just sit still and do nothing. You've got to work, to keep up with the pace, the sting in the atmosphere.

no person will ever get into my blood as a place can ... People and things pass away, but not places.

Boredom is a pleasing antidote for fear

A familiar name on its own, however, does not carry its bearer far unless the talent is there, and the will to work.

If there’s one thing that makes a man sick, it’s to have his ale poured out of an ugly hand.