the slight sense of degeneracy induced by reading novels before luncheon

Exhibitionism and a nervous wish for concealment, for anonymity, thus battle inside the buyer of any piece of clothing.

Forgiveness should be an act, but this is a state with him.

With three or more people there is something bold in the air: direct things get said which would frighten two people alone and conscious of each inch of their nearness to one another. To be three is to be in public - you feel safe.

The silence of a shut park does not sound like country silence: it is tense and confined.

One can suffer a convulsion of one's entire nature, and, unless it makes some noise, no one notices. It's not just that we are incurious; we completely lack any sense of each other's existences.

I suspect victims; they win in the long run.