What a host of little incidents, all deep-buried in the past -- problems that had once been urgent, arguments that had once been keen, anecdotes that were funny only because one remembered the fun. Did any emotion really matter when the last trace of it had vanished from human memory; and if that were so, what a crowd of emotions clung to him as to their last home before annihilation? He must be kind to them, must treasure them in his mind before their long sleep.

It's a very remarkable story." "Remarkable's a well-chosen word. It doesn't give you away.

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

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?

Laziness in doing stupid things can be a great virtue.

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.