My writing, I am prepared to think, may be a substitute for something I have been born without - a so-called normal relation to society. My books are my relation to society.
Elizabeth BowenAlso, perhaps children are sterner than grown-up people in their refusal to suffer, in their refusal, even, to feel at all.
Elizabeth BowenThe writer, unlike his non-writing adult friend, has no predisposed outlook; he seldom observes deliberately. He sees what he didnot intend to see; he remembers what does not seem wholly possible. Inattentive learner in the schoolroom of life, he keeps some faculty free to veer and wander. His is the roving eye.
Elizabeth BowenWho is ever adequate? We all create situations each other can't live up to, then break our hearts at them because they don't.
Elizabeth Bowen