There is no such thing as an exact synonym and no such thing as an unmixed motive.

They had both noticed that a life of dissipation sometimes gave to a face the look of gaunt suffering spirituality that a life of asceticism was supposed to give and quite often did not.

A novel is really like a symphony where instrument after instrument has to come in at its own time, and no other.

we know that the Furies do not come uninvited.

Adventure is something you seek for pleasure, or even for profit, like a gold rush or invading a country;...but experience is what really happens to you in the long run; the truth that finally overtakes you.

I specialize in what the French call la petite histoire. I am interested in the individual thumbprint.

Life is a game of piquet played in a bramble bush in very bad weather.