There's enough sorrow in the world, isn't there, without trying to invent it.

'Oh, poor, poor fellow!' said Mrs. Elliot with a remorse that was sincere, though her congratulations would not have been.

English literature is a flying fish.

It is so difficult - at least, I find it difficult - to understand people who speak the truth.

Love and understand the Italians, for the people are more marvellous than the land.

The people I admire most are those who are sensitive and want to create something or discover something, and do not see life in terms of power.

It is pleasant to be transferred from an office where one is afraid of a sergeant-major into an office where one can intimidate generals, and perhaps this is why history is so attractive to the more timid among us. We can recover self-confidence by snubbing the dead.