one of Mr. [Thomas] Hardy's ancestors must have married a weeping willow. There are pages and pages in his collected poems which are simply plain narratives in ballad form of how an unenjoyable time was had by all.

a good oyster cannot please the palate as acutely as a bad one can revolt it, and a good oyster cannot make him who eats it live for ever though a bad one can make him dead for ever.

I cannot think that espionage can be recommended as a technique for building an impressive civilization. It's a lout's game.

I wonder if we are all wrong about each other, if we are just composing unwritten novels about the people we meet?

I have no faith in the sense of comforting beliefs which persuade me that all my troubles are blessings in disguise.

Domesticity is essentially drama, for drama is conflict, and the home compels conflict by its concentration of active personalities in a small area. The real objection to domesticity is that it is too exciting.

There is nothing more frightening than the faces of people whom one does not know but who seem to know one, and be amused by one.