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.

It is my fate and perhaps my temperament to sign agreements with fools.

Words deserted him immediately. He could only speak when he was not asked to.

Most of life is so dull that there is nothing to be said about it, and the books and talk that would describe it as interesting are obliged to exaggerate, in the hope of justifying their own existence.

There has been, is, and always will be every conceivable type of person.

I'd far rather leave a thought behind me than a child. Other people can have children.

Sometimes I think too much fuss is made about marriage. Century after century of carnal embracement and we're still no nearer to understanding one another.