You have no idea how much nastier I would be if I was not a Catholic. Without supernatural aid I would hardly be a human being.

Of children as of procreation -- the pleasure momentary, the posture ridiculous, the expense damnable

The sky over London was glorious, ochre and madder, as though a dozen tropic suns were simultaneously setting round the horizon . . . Everywhere the shells sparkled like Christmas baubles.

Anyone who has been to an English public school will always feel comparatively at home in prison. It is the people brought up in the gay intimacy of the slums who find prison so soul-destroying.

Yes, cider and tinned salmon are the staple diet of the agricultural classes.

Almost all crime is due to the repressed desire for aesthetic expression.

Wine is a bride who brings a great dowry to the man who woos her persistently and gracefully.