He laughed a little, in an odd, nervous kind of way. "Because if I don't get going soon, the whole impetus may die--and if that happens, well, I really shall consider a long, restful plunge into insanity. Sometimes the abyss yawns very attractively.

And at last father flung the rug off as if it were hampering him and strode over to the table saying, 'cocoa, cocoa!'-- it might have been the most magnificent drink in the world; which, personally, I think it is.

Still, looking through the old volumes was soothing, because thinking of the past made the present seem a little less real.

Americans do seem to say things which make the English notice England.

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

Sometimes [the expression] old age has a kind of harrowing beauty. But elderly - ugh!

We were restless for ages...After a while I heard an owl hooting and calmed myself by thinking of it flying over the dark fields – and then I remembered it would be pouncing on mice. I love owls, but I wish God had made them vegetarian.