One grows accustomed to being praised, or being blamed, or being advised, but it is unusual to be understood.

People in a novel can be understood completely by the reader, if the novelist can be understood completely by the reader, if the novelist wishes; their inner as well as their outer life can be exposed.

I have said that each aspect of the novel demands a different quality of the reader. Well, the prophetic aspect demands two qualities: humility and the suspension of the sense of humour.

... there are shadows because there are hills.

I hated the idleness, the stupidity, the respectability, the petty unselfishness.

I cannot help thinking that there is something to admire in everyone, even if you do not approve of them.

He had known so much about her once -what she thought, how she felt, the reasons for her actions. And now he only knew that he loved her, and all the other knowledge seemed passing from him just as he needed it most.