It was as if for the remainder of his life he was condemned to carry with him the egos of certain people, early met and early loved, and to be only as complete as they were complete themselves. There was some element of loneliness involved--so easy to be loved--so hard to love.

Debut: the first time a young girl is seen drunk in public.

A lot of young girls together is a romantic secret thing like the first sight of wild ducks at dawn.

I hope she'll be a fool -- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.

Many nights he lay there dreaming awake of secret cafés in Mont Marte, where ivory women delved in romantic mysteries with diplomats and soldiers of fortune, while orchestras played Hungarian waltzes and the air was thick and exotic with intrigue and moonlight and adventure.

Every one suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues.

We haven’t met for many years, said Daisy, her voice as matter-of-fact as it could ever be. "Five years next November." The automatic quality set us all back at least another minute.