Destruction after all is a form of creation.

Perhaps the comparison is closer to the Chinese cook who leaves hardly any part of a duck unserved.

If two people loved, they slept together; it was a mathematical formula, tested and proved by human experience.

There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.

What an unbearable creature he must have been in those days--and yet in those days he had been comparatively innocent. That was another mystery: it sometimes seemed to him that venial sins--impatience, an unimportant lie, pride, a neglected opportunity--cut you off from grace more completely than the worst sins of all. Then, in his innocence, he had felt no love for anyone; now in his corruption he had learnt.

He entered the territory of lies without a passport for return.

I'm only saying I want you to be happy. I hate your being unhappy. I don't mind anything you do that makes you happy." You just want an excuse. If I sleep with anybody else, you feel you can do the same - any time." That's neither here nor there. I want you to be happy, that's all." You'd make my bed for me?" Perhaps.