We can build upon foundations anywhere if they are well and firmly laid.
It is no good to think that other people are out to serve our interests.
[On writing:] What a difficult kind of work to choose! But of course one did not choose it. There was no choice.
My youth is escaping without giving me anything it owes me.
Magnifying a matter is not the way to mend it.
The plot is not very important to me, though a novel must have one, of course. It's just a line to hang the washing on.