... 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.

Never to lie is to have no lock on your door, you are never wholly alone.

Nobody speaks the truth when there's something they must have.

Sins cut boldly up through every class in society, but mere misdemeanours show a certain level in life.

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.

Meetings that do not come off keep a character of their own. They stay as they were projected.

For people who live on expectations, to face up to their realization is something of an ordeal.