How few writers can prostitute all their powers!

A critic has no right to the narrowness which is the frequent prerogative of the creative artist.

Our easiest approach to a definition of any aspect of fiction is always by considering the sort of demand it makes on the reader. Curiosity for the story, human feelings and a sense of value for the characters, intelligence and memory for the plot. What does fantasy ask of us? It asks us to pay something extra.

Either life entails courage, or it ceases to be life.

When love flies it is remembered not as love but as something else. Blessed are the uneducated, who forget it entirely, and are never conscious of folly or pruriency in the past, of long aimless conversations.

There is much good luck in the world, but it is luck. We are none of us safe. We are children, playing or quarrelling on the line.

One's favorite book is as elusive as one's favorite pudding.