Characters should on the whole, be under rather than over articulate. What they intend to say should be more evident, more striking (because of its greater inner importance to the plot) than what they arrive at saying.

Spoilt pleasure is a sad, unseemly thing; you can only bury it.

Habit is not mere subjugation, it is a tender tie; when one remembers habit it seems to have been happiness.

In big houses in which things are done properly, there is always the religious element. The diurnal cycle is observed with more feeling when there are servants to do the work.

Chance is better than choice; it is more lordly. Chance is God, choice is man.

Experience isn't interesting until it begins to repeat itself. In fact, till it does that, it hardly is experience.

Style is the thing that's always a bit phony, and at the same time you cannot write without style.