It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive. Arrival often brings nothing but a sense of desolation and disappointment.

She believed, of course ... because without something to believe in, life would be intolerable.

I wasn't good enough. I had a little talent but not enough. There is nothing more discouraging than having just a little talent.

I'm getting too elderly to travel the length of the country for a free hangover.

She put out her hand and touched his forearm, as she would have touched some piece of porcelain or sculpture, just for the sheer animal pleasure of feeling its shape and curve beneath her fingertips.

Other people's houses were always fascinating. As soon as you went through the door for the first time, you got the feel of the atmosphere, and so discovered something about the personalities of the people who lived there.

They will come, not to paint the bay and the sea and the boots and the moors, but the warmth of the sun and the colour of the wind. A whole new concept. Such stimulation. Such vitality.