In recompense, envy may be the subtlest - perhaps I should say the most insidious - of the seven deadly sins.

What, really, is wanted from a neighborhood? Convenience, certainly, an absence of major aggravation, to be sure. But perhaps mostof all, ideally, what is wanted is a comfortable background, a breathing space of intermission between the intensities of private life and the calculations of public life.

We do choose how we shall live

That wine drinking is more effete than beer drinking? No question.

I should prefer to die laughing, and, on more than one occasion, thought I might.

By the way, the secret of speaking French is confidence. Whether you are right or wrong, you don't hesitate.

High standards generally -- about workmanship and creation of objects, about what is owed in friendship, about the quality of art and much else -- far from being snobbish, are required to maintain decency in life.