From a purely tourist standpoint, Oxford is overpowering, being so replete with architecture and history and anecdote that the visitor's mind feels dribbling and helpless, as with an over-large mouthful of nougat.

Democracy makes many taxing demands on its practitioners, but suspension of the intelligence is not one of them.

Folklore is a collection of ridiculous notions held by other people, but not by you and me.

Reality is above all else a variable, and nobody is qualified to say that he or she knows exactly what it is. As a matter of fact, with a firm enough commitment, you can sometimes create a reality which did not exist before.

Identity is not found, the way Pharaoh's daughter found Moses in the bulrushes. Identity is built.

when I spoke of having a drink, it was a euphemism for having a whole flock of them.

... it takes a great deal to produce ennui in an Englishman and if you do, he only takes it as convincing proof that you are well-bred.