Age seldom arrives smoothly or quickly. It's more often a succession of jerks.

The last time you were happy about nothing; the first time you were afraid about nothing. Which came first?

Every word I say has chains round its ankles; every thought I think is weighted with heavy weights.

She’ll have no lover, for I don’t want her and she’ll see no other.

Quite like old times,' the room says.

Even the one moment that you thought was your eternity fades out and is forgotten and dies.

I long to be ... Like Other People! The extraordinary, ungetatable, oddly cruel Other People, with their way of wantonly hurting and then accusing you of being thin-skinned, sulky, vindictive or ridiculous.