When it comes to housework the one thing no book of household management can ever tell you is how to begin. Or maybe I mean why.

And what would happen to my illusion that I am a force for order in the home if I wasn't married to the only man north of the Tiber who is even untidier than I am?

No nice men are good at getting taxis.

Things a mother should know: how to comfort a son without exactly saying Daddy was wrong.

An office party is not, as is sometimes supposed, the Managing Director's chance to kiss the tea-girl. It is the tea-girl's chance to kiss the Managing Director (however bizarre an ambition this may seem to anyone who has seen the Managing Director face on).

It is a pity that so often the only way to treat girls like people seems to be to treat them like boys.

I wouldn't say when you've seen one Western you've seen the lot; but when you've seen the lot you get the feeling you've seen one.