For those who like that sort of thing," said Miss Brodie in her best Edinburgh voice, "That is the sort of thing they like.

Frankness is usually a euphemism for rudeness.

I have a great desire to make people smile - not laugh. Laughter is too aggressive. People bare their teeth.

Art and religion first; then philosophy; lastly science. That is the order of the great subjects of life, that's their order of importance.

Being in love is something like poetry. Certainly, you can analyze and expound its various senses and intentions, but there is always something left over, mysteriously hovering between music and meaning.

If you choose the sort of life which has no conventional pattern you have to try to make an art of it, or it is a mess.

I was just as anxious to prevent injustice as to cause justice.