The English have always been greedy for news of times past, with that mixture of fatalism and melancholy which is part of the national character.

There are certain people who seem doomed to buy certain houses. The house expects them. It waits for them.

I don't believe necessarily the past is in the past. It's eternal, it's all around us.

I detest self-regard. If my work has taught me anything, it is that self-aggrandisement is completely unhistorical.

All cities are impressive in their way, because they represent the aspiration of men to lead a common life; those people who wish to live agreeable lives, and in constant intercourse with one another, will build a city as beautiful as Paris.

Freud was just a novelist.

Bigotry does not consort easily with free trade.