... a less than perfect meddling in the spiritual world can breed monsters for other people.

Literature could be said to be a sort of disciplined technique for arousing certain emotions.

A middling talent makes for a more serene life.

Jealousy comes from self-love rather than from true love.

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.

People who boast of happy marriages are, I submit, usually self-deceivers, if not actually liars.

The bicycle is the most civilized conveyance known to man.