A novel must give a sense of permanence as well as a sense of life.

'A friend,' he repeated, sentimental suddenly. 'Someone to last your whole life and you his. I suppose such a thing can't really happen outside sleep.'

It's not what people do to you, but what they mean, that hurts.

Characters must not brood too long. They must not waste time running up and down ladders in their own insides.

Nature pulls one way and human nature another.

He doesn't want you to be real, and to think and to live. He doesn't love you. But I love you. I want you to have your own thoughts and ideas and feelings, even when I hold you in my arms.

It isn't possible to love and to part.