The object of the novelist is to keep the reader entirely oblivious of the fact that the author exists - even of the fact he is reading a book.

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

The object of the novelist is to keep the reader entirely oblivious of the fact that the author exists - even of the fact he is reading a book.

He added that a Frenchman in the train had given him a great sandwich that so stank of garlic that he had been inclined to throw it at the fellow's head.

But responsibility hardens the heart. It must.

Damn it all, it's the first duty of a soldier - it's the first duty of all Englishmen - to be able to tell a good lie in answer to a charge.

If you're going to have a character appear in a story long enough to sell a newspaper, he'd better be real enough that you can smell his breath.