In literature the ambition of the novice is to acquire the literary language; the struggle of the adept is to get rid of it.

I believe in the discipline of silence, and could talk for hours about it.

The only way for a woman to provide for herself decently is for her to be good to some man that can afford to be good to her.

Freedom, my good girl, means being able to count on how other people will behave.

I loathe the mess of mean superstitions and misunderstood prophecies which is still rammed down the throats of children under the name of Christianity.

The universal regard for money is the one hopeful fact in our civilization.

There is nothing on earth more exquisite than a bonny book, with well-placed columns of rich black writing in beautiful borders, and illuminated pictures cunningly inset. But nowadays, instead of looking at books, people read them. A book might as well be one of those orders for bacon and bran.