... he felt himself to be one of them, who can live neither in the world nor out of it. They are a kind of sick people, whose desire for God makes them unsatisfactory citizens of an ordinary life, but whose strength or temperament fails them to surrender the world completely; and present-day society, with its hurried pace and its mechanical and technical structure, offers no home to these unhappy souls.

All art is the struggle to be, in a particular sort of way, virtuous.

Falling out of love is very enlightening. For a short while you see the world with new eyes.

Those who hope, by retiring from the world, to earn a holiday from human frailty, in themselves and others, are usually disappointed.

A middling talent makes for a more serene life.

I think being a woman is like being Irish. Everyone says you're important and nice, but you take second place all the same.

Nothing is more beautifully and acceptably self-assertive than good singing.