Common sense is a vastly overrated virtue. I myself prefer the spark of genius.

the smell of lilacs crept poignantly into the room like a remembered spring.

To the uneducated eye, as to the incurious mind, much of the world is in darkness, and a thousand songs are lost on the unlistening ear.

Civilization has imposed countless restrictions and conventions on each of us, with the result that the subconscious in the majority of us has become a storage room without a key. We are forced to suppress or forget so many events and ideas and thoughts that those to which we should have access are lost in the welter. However, there are people who seem capable of unlocking this part of their minds and extracting relevant information.

the emotions at death, as at birth, are instinctive and primitive.

You can't drown your troubles ... because troubles can swim.

Perfect young men don't get murdered, they don't even get born.