To make a precise scientific description of reality out of words is like trying to build a rigid structure out of pure quicksilver.

Placetne, magistra?" "Placet.

Birth is beastly - and death - and digestion, if it comes to that. Sometimes when I think of what's happening inside me to a beautiful suprème de sole, with the caviare in boats, and the croûtons and the jolly little twists of potato and all the gadgets - I could cry. But there it is, don't you know.

It is impossible for human nature to believe that money is not there. It seems so much more likely that the money is there and only needs bawling for.

I gather that he nearly knocked you down, damaged your property, and generally made a nuisance of himself, and that you instantly concluded he must be some relation to me.

It's very inconvenient being a sculptor. It's like playing the double-bass; one's so handicapped by one's baggage.

There are times when one is tempted to say that the great, sprawling, lethargic sin of Sloth is the oldest and greatest of the sins and the parent of all the rest.