Because love is the meeting point of truth and magic. Truth, as in photography; magic, as in ballooning.

The writer has little control over personal temperament, none over historical moment, and is only partly in charge of his or her own aesthetic.

Women scheme when they are weak, they lie out of fear. Men scheme when they are strong, they lie out of arrogance.

[Flaubert] didn’t just hate the railway as such; he hated the way it flattered people with the illusion of progress. What was the point of scientific advance without moral advance? The railway would merely permit more people to move about, meet and be stupid together.

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.

He didn’t really like travel, of course. He liked the idea of travel, and the memory of travel, but not travel itself.

What is history? Any thoughts, Webster?' 'History is the lies of the victors,' I replied, a little too quickly. 'Yes, I was rather afraid you'd say that. Well, as long as you remember that it is also the self-delusions of the defeated. ... 'Finn?' '"History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation." (quoting Patrick Lagrange)