Nature is all very well in her place, but she must not be allowed to make things untidy.

Surely she had endured enough for one evening without having to listen to intelligent conversation?

He was, she reflected, almost rudely like a tortoise; and she was glad her friend kept none as pets or they might have suspected mockery.

There are some things (like first love and one’s first reviews) at which a woman in her middle years does not care to look too closely.

There have always been Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm

A straight nose is a great help if one wishes to look serious'.

You have the most revolting Florence Nightingale complex,' said Mrs. Smiling. It is not that at all, and well you know it. On the whole, I dislike my fellow beings; I find them so difficult to understand. But I have a tidy mind and untidy lives irritate me. Also, they are uncivilized.