The exhaustion of the passions is the beginning of wisdom.

Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers?

In a small cathedral town where changes are few, there are always people who remember who used to live in a particular house, what happened to them there and afterwards, and so on.

We believe that to govern perfectly it is necessary to avoid governing too much.

When you are getting on in years (but not ill, of course), you get very sleepy at times, and the hours seem to pass like lazy cattle moving across a landscape.

You will have Time, that rare and lovely gift that your Western countries have lost the more they have pursued it.

There are times in life when the most comfortable thing is to do nothing at all. Things happen to you and you just let them happen.