Remember the botched brothel-visit in L’Education sentimentale and remember its lesson. Do not participate: happiness lies in the imagination, not the act. Pleasure is found first in anticipation, later in memory.

WHORES. Necessary in the nineteenth century for the contraction of syphilis, without which no one could claim genius.

I hate the way the English have of not being serious about being serious, I really hate it.

Those were the days in this country where H. G. Wells, Bernard Shaw and Conan Doyle could have influence, and thats gone, thats true. But I dont think we have less influence in the hearts and minds of readers. I think, if anything, we have just as much, if not more.

This was long before the term 'single-parent family' came into use; back then it was a 'broken home'.

I am death-fearing. I don't think I'm morbid. That seems to me a fear of death that goes beyond the rational. Whereas it seems to me to be entirely rational to fear death!

It's easy, after all, not to be a writer. Most people aren't writers, and very little harm comes to them.