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.

Our final experience, like our first, is conjectural. We move between two darkness's.

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

Science is better than sympathy, if only it is science.

But why I cry out against Rubens is because he painted undressed people instead of naked ones.

Nonsense and beauty have close connections.

If Miss Honeychurch ever takes to live as she plays, it will be very exciting--both for us and for her.