If, for instance, they have heard something from the postman, they attribute it to a semi-official statement; if they have fallen into conversation with a stranger at a bar, they can conscientiously describe him as a source that has hitherto proved unimpeachable. It is only when the journalist is reporting a whim of his own, and one to which he attaches minor importance, that he defines it as the opinion of well-informed circles.

There is practically no sense that is not violated every time we return from the country or the sea to Paris or London or New York.

In the dying world I come from, quotation is a national vice.

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

The languor of Youth - how unique and quintessential it is! How quickly, how irrecoverably, lost!

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

They are a very decent generous lot of people out here and they don't expect you to listen.... It's the secret of social ease in this country. They talk entirely for their own pleasure. Nothing they say is designed to be heard.