I wanted to know more about the young ... strange that though they laughed so loud, they so seldom smiled. Perhaps laughter was involuntary whereas smiling was part of an attitude to life.

Just to be in love seemed the most blissful luxury I had ever known. The thought came to me that perhaps it is the loving that counts, not the being loved in return -- that perhaps true loving can never know anything but happiness. For a moment I felt that I had discovered a great truth.

I'm convinced England's overflowing with eccentric people, places, happenings. Indeed, you might say eccentricity's normal in England.

What is it about the English countryside — why is the beauty so much more than visual? Why does it touch one so?

It is rather exciting to write by moonlight.

I think it [religion] is an art, the greatest one; an extension of the communion all the other arts attempt.

Well, my paper has asked me to do a series: Lives of the Great Musicians, reading time 2 minutes.