There is no man who loves a woman that does not desire to come to her for the renewal of his courage, for the cutting asunder of his difficulties. And that will be the mainspring of his desire for her. We are all so afraid, we are all so alone, we all so need from the outside the assurance of our own worthiness to exist.

I couldn't regard myself as personally repulsive. No man can, or, if he ever comes to do so, that is the end of him.

We are all so afraid, we are all so alone, we all so need from the outside the assurance of our own worthiness to exist.

Ford's last Fifth Queen novel is amazing. The whole cycle is a noble conception.

The first thing you have to consider when writing a novel is your story, and then your story - and then your story!

[W]e are almost always in one place with our minds somewhere quite other.

Yes, a war is inevitable. Firstly, there's you fellows who can't be trusted. And then there's the multitude who mean to have bathrooms and white enamel. Millions of them; all over the world. Not merely here. And there aren't enough bathrooms and white enamel in the world to go round.