Illusions are art, for the feeling person, and it is by art that we live, if we do.

The paradox of romantic love -- that what one possesses, one can no longer desire -- was at work.

to leap is not only to leap, it is to hit the ground somewhere.

rudeness to Mrs. Dosely was like dropping a pat of butter on to a hot plate - it slid and melted away.

Roughly, the action of a character should be unpredictable before it has been shown, inevitable when it has been shown. In the first half of a novel, the unpredictability should be the more striking. In the second half, the inevitability should be the more striking.

every short story is an experiment - what one must ask is not only, did it come off, but was it, as an experiment, worth making?

Curiosity in Rome is a form of courtesy.