...vicinity to the sea is desirable, because it is easier to do nothing by the sea than anywhere else, and because bathing and basking on the shore cannot be considered an employment but only an apotheosis of loafing. ("Expiation")

There's many things in this world that will depress you, and make you good for nothing, if you take them seriously, and that cheer you up if you don't.

An idea so luminous flashed across her brain that she almost thought the room had leaped into light.

Vermouth always makes me brilliant unless it makes me idiotic.

When one is happy there is no time to be fatigued; being happy engrosses the whole attention.

Emotionally, I have no picture-book illustrated with memories of my first five years, but externally, I have impressions that possess a haunting vividness comparable only to the texture of dreams, when dreams are tumultuously alive.

...vicinity to the sea is desirable, because it is easier to do nothing by the sea than anywhere else, and because bathing and basking on the shore cannot be considered an employment but only an apotheosis of loafing. ("Expiation")