In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs.

There's no such thing as old age, there is only sorrow.

Any rapidly enacted episode. . .should be seen through only one pair of eyes.

To visit Morocco is still like turning the pages of some illuminated Persian manuscript all embroidered with bright shapes and subtle lines.

They are all alike you know. They hold their tongues for years and you think you're safe, but when the opportunity comes they remember everything.

The real alchemy consists in being able to turn gold back again into something else; and that's the secret that most of your friends have lost.

It is so easy for a woman to become what the man she loves believes her to be