She only felt that the candle would burn better, the packing go easier, the world be happier, if she could give and receive some human love.

It was unbearable, and he thought again, 'How unhappy I am!' and became happier.

...the true spirit of gastronomic joylessness. Porridge fills the Englishman up, and prunes clear him out.

You told me once that we shall be judged by our intentions, not by our accomplishments. I thought it a grand remark. But we must intend to accomplish - not sit intending on a chair.

Take an old man's word; there's nothing worse than a muddle in all the world. It is easy to face Death and Fate, and the things that sound so dreadful. It is on my muddles that I look back with horror - on the things that I might have avoided. We can help one another but little. I used to think I could teach young people the whole of life, but I know better now, and all my teaching of George has come down to this: beware of muddle.

For a wonderful physical tie binds the parents to the children; and - by some sad, strange irony - it does not bind us children to our parents. For if it did, if we could answer their love not with gratitude but with equal love, life would lose much of its pathos and much of its squalor, and we might be wonderfully happy.

America is rather like life. You can usually find in it what you look for It will probably be interesting, and it is sure to be large.