Christmas... is not an external event at all, but a piece of one's home that one carries in one's heart.

The camel is an ugly animal, seen from above. Its shoulders slope formless like a sack, its silly little ears and fluff of bleached curls behind them have a respectable, boarding-house look, like some faded neatness that dresses for propriety but never dressed for love.

The beckoning counts, and not the clicking of the latch behind you.

monotony is not to be worshipped as a virtue; nor the marriage bed treated as a coffin for security rather than a couch from which to rise refreshed.

... I cannot think a civilization worth having that does not encourage and enable its subjects to spend something, not extorted by governments but freely given to keep wretchedness at least from the streets they walk through day by day.

To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the most pleasant sensations in the world. You are surrounded by adventure.

Absence is one of the most useful ingredients of family life, and to dose it rightly is an art like any other.