Childish fantasy, like the sheath over the bud, not only protects but curbs the terrible budding spirit, protects not only innocence from the world, but the world from the power of innocence.

One can live in the shadow of an idea without grasping it.

the slight sense of degeneracy induced by reading novels before luncheon

No, it is not only our fate but our business to lose innocence, and once we have lost that, it is futile to attempt a picnic in Eden.

What I have found is, anything one keeps hidden should now and then be hidden somewhere else.

Two things are terrible in childhood: helplessness (being in other people's power) and apprehension - the apprehension that something is being concealed from us because it is too bad to be told.

Pity the selfishness of lovers: it is brief, a forlorn hope; it is impossible.