You aren't ill: it is just that you are made of second-rate materials

And we are a people without tears. The things that moved our parents do not move us at all.

My tidiness, and my untidiness, are full of regret and remorse and complex feelings.

The course of our lives follows ancient and immutable laws, with an ancient, changeless rhythm. Dreams never come true, and the instant they are shattered, we realize how the greatest joys of life lie beyond the realm of reality. The instant they are shattered we are sick with longing for the days when they flamed within us. Our fate spends itself in this succession of hope and nostalgia.

I think of a writer as a river: you reflect what passes before you.

England is a country where people stay exactly as they are. The soul does not receive the slightest jolt.

No adultery is bloodless.