We English are good at forgiving our enemies; it releases us from the obligation of liking our friends.

I don't see why escapist literature shouldn't also be a work of art.

Ambition, if it were to be savored, let alone achieved, had to be rooted in possibility.

The weekend break had begun with the usual resentment and had continued with half-repressed ill humour. It was, of course, his fault. He had been more ready to hurt his wife's feelings and deprive his daughter than inconvenience a pub bar full of strangers. He wished there could be one memory of his dead child which wasn't tainted with guilt and regret.

What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give.

Books of quotations ... afford me one of the most undemanding but satisfying forms of reading pleasure.

the most successful marriages were always based on both partners feeling that they had done rather well for themselves.