He was gifted with the sly, sharp instinct for self-preservation that passes for wisdom among the rich.

The truth is that Oxford is simply a very beautiful city in which it is convenient to segregate a certain number of the young of the nation while they are growing up.

She told me later that she had made a kind of note of me in her mind, as, scanning the shelf for a particular book, one will sometimes have one's attention caught by another, take it down, glance at the title page and saying "I must read that, too, when I've the time," replace it and continue the search.

My unhealthy affection for my second daughter has waned. Now I despise all my seven children equally.

I don't believe that people would ever fall in love or want to be married if they hadn't been told about it. It's like abroad: no one would want to go there if they hadn't been told it existed.

Sometimes, I feel the past and the future pressing so hard on either side that there's no room for the present at all.

The only thing that it is advisable to know in any language is the numerals; and even there, you can do a lot with the fingers.