But to be quite oneself one must first waste a little time.

... in nine out of ten cases the original wish to write is the wish to make oneself felt[ellipsis in source] the non-essential writer never gets past that wish.

We have really no absent friends.

Disappointment tears the bearable film off life.

Jane Austen, much in advance of her day, was a mistress of the use of the dialogue. She used it as dialogue should be used-to advance the story; not only to show the characters, but to advance.

Have not all poetic truths been already stated? The essence of a poetic truth is that no statement of it can be final.

Fantasy is toxic: the private cruelty and the world war both have their start in the heated brain.