The poverty from which I have suffered could be diagnosed as 'Soho' poverty. It comes from having the airs and graces of a genius and no talent.

Vienna is cold, and dark, and sad. It is laid out as though for a royal parade; the streets are wide and they're flanked by monumental buildings, decorated with the faces of angry gods. And on the roof are statues of national heroes, wielding weapons of destruction.

Manners are a way of getting what you want without appearing to be an absolute swine.

To my disappointment I now realized that to know all is not to forgive all. It is to despise everybody.

The British do not expect happiness. I had the impression, all the time that I lived there, that they do not want to be happy; they want to be right.

There are three reasons for becoming a writer: the first is that you need the money; the second that you have something to say that you think the world should know; the third is that you can't think what to do with the long winter evenings.

I take it to be axiomatic that people are revolted by witnessing the shameless gratification of an appetite they do not share.