Not a single thought managed to take shape in her mind: for the likeness of this day to the last seemed to her the clearest proof that it would be another quite useless day, a day she would gladly have done without. For a moment she thought that a day like this would be pointless for anyone on earth, then abruptly changed her mind as she realised that thousands of women, after a hard week's work, or a family quarrel, or even just after catching a cold, would envy her just for having the leisure to rest in comfort.

It was only a phrase that went from mouth to mouth and was never quite swallowed.

Can one move an empire as if it were a house?

A mountaineer’s house, before being his home and the home of his family, is the home of God and of guests.

I had three choices: to conform to my own beliefs, which meant death; complete silence, which meant another kind of death; to pay a tribute, a bribe. I chose the third solution by writing The Long Winter.

Shiny musical instruments wailed, their mouths open like lilies.

If an animal has to be sacrificed when a new bridge is built, what will it take to build a whole new world?