Nature has decreed that for what men suffer by having to shave, be killed in battle, and eat the legs of chickens, women make amends by housekeeping, childbirth, and writing all the letters for both of them.

A single person is a manageable entity, whom you can either make friends with or leave alone. But half of a married couple is not exactly a whole human being: if the marriage is successful it is something a little more than that; if unsuccessful, a little less. In either case, a fresh complication is added to the already intricate business of friendship: as Clem had once remarked, you might as well try to dance a tarantella with a Siamese twin.

how much of the fun of parenthood lay in watching the children remake, with delighted wonder, one's own discoveries.

And I am a mockery, who was God before.

Constructive destruction is one of the most delightful employments in the world, and in civilized life the opportunities for it are only too rare.

When there is a world scarcity of any commodity, whether it's food or free speech, then the whole world must go on rations in order that eventually the whole world may have it again in plenty.

To visit a new country for the first time is great fun; but it is even greater fun to introduce somebody else to a country that you know.