Scenery can be a violent stimulant.

I've always thought that very few people grow old as admirably as academics. At least books never let them down.

Poverty, therefore, was comparative. One measured it by a sliding scale. One was always poor, in terms of those who were richer.

I'd rather be at the end of a dying tradition, which I admire, than at the beginning of a tradition which I deplore.

Nothing fails like failure

The human mind can bear plenty of reality but not too much intermittent gloom.

I used to be a reasonably careless and adventurous person before I had children; now I am morbidly obsessed by seat-belts and constantly afraid that low-flying aircraft will drop on my children's school.