No one, at any rate no English writer, has written better about childhood than Dickens. In spite of all the knowledge that has accumulated since, in spite of the fact that children are now comparatively sanely treated, no novelist has shown the same power of entering into the child's point of view.

A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats.

Snobbishness, like hypocrisy, is a check upon behaviour whose value from a social point of view has been underrated.

All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.

It could not have been ten seconds, and yet it seemed a long time that their hands were clasped together. He had time to learn every detail of her hand.

In general, the greater the understanding, the greater the delusion; the more intelligent, the less sane.

Roughly speaking, the more one pays for food, the more sweat and spittle one is obliged to eat with it.... Dirtiness is inherent in hotels and restaurants, because sound food is sacrificed to punctuality and smartness.