I hate solitude but I am afraid of intimacy. The substance of my life is a private conversation with myself and to turn it into a dialogue would be equivalent to self-destruction. The company I need is the company which a pub or a cafe will provide. I have never wanted a communion of souls.

There is no substitute for the comfort supplied by the utterly taken-for-granted relationship.

Probably no adult misery can be compared with a child's despair.

Every man needs two women: a quiet home-maker, and a thrilling nymph.

We are such inward secret creatures, that inwardness is the most amazing thing about us, even more amazing than our reason.

The most essential and fundamental aspect of culture is the study of literature, since this is an education in how to picture and understand human situations.

A long marriage is very unifying, even if it's not ideal, and those old structures must be respected.