The sorrows we imagine are more profound and inconsolable than real life leaves us time for.

The sorrows of children are profound and unsuspected.

I have reached the stage now where luxury is not in fine possessions but in carefree possessions, and the greatest luxury of all would be the completely expendable.

the large black slugs ... come out at dusk. Enormous slugs. As big as crocodiles. So huge we need a gun to shoot them. And by the end of the summer, if they go on growing, we shall have to go out in pairs together for protection.

Every search has its own momentum. It is why a search makes such an excellent plot for a film or story.

The hardest of all is learning to be a well of affection, and not a fountain, to show them that we love them, not when we feel like it, but when they do.

the urgent crowds out the essential.