Ah, we have to be generous to be grateful ... One has oneself to be a giver.

When I die, people will say it is the best thing for me. It is because they know it is the worst. They want to avoid the feeling of pity. As though they were the people most concerned!

[On writing:] What a difficult kind of work to choose! But of course one did not choose it. There was no choice.

I never agree with the compliments paid to it. It is not a great healer. It is an indifferent and perfunctory one. Sometimes it does not heal at all. And sometimes when it seems to, no healing has been necessary.

Most of the pleasure of making a book would go if it held nothing to be shared by other people. I would write for a few dozen people, and sometimes it seems that I do so, but I would not write for no-one.

some people always have a touch of youth about them.

Magnifying a matter is not the way to mend it.