For me the process works best with no interruptions, no breaks in the steady application, no letters to be answered, very little social life, no holidays; it is therefore a form of happy imprisonment.

Sir,’ said Stephen, ‘I read novels with the utmost pertinacity. I look upon them--I look upon good novels--as a very valuable part of literature, conveying more exact and finely-distinguished knowledge of the human heart and mind than almost any other, with greater breadth and depth and fewer constraints.

The Navy speaks in symbols and you may suit what meaning you choose to the words.

I am opposed to authority, that egg of misery and oppression; I am opposed to it largely for what it does to those who exercise it.

That would be locking the horse after the stable door is gone, a very foolish thing to do.

We understood one another better before ever I opened my mouth

I know of few men over 50 that seem to me entirely human, virtually none who has long exercised authority.