My task, which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel--it is, before all, to make you see.

It’s extraordinary how we go through life with eyes half shut, with dull ears, with dormant thoughts. Perhaps it’s just as well; and it may be that it is this very dullness that makes life to the incalculable majority so supportable and so welcome.

The real significance of crime is in its being a breach of faith with the community of mankind.

I was constantly watching myself, my secret self, as dependent on my actions as my own personality

As a general rule, a reputation is built on manner as much as on achievement.

In the empty immensity of earth, sky, and water, there she was, incomprehensible, firing into a continent.

Ah! These commercial interests -- spoiling the finest life under the sun. Why must the sea be used for trade -- and for war as well?...It would have been so much nicer just to sail about, with here and there a port and a bit of land to stretch one's legs on, buy a few books and get a change of cooking for a while.