Dawn crept over the Downs like a sinister white animal, followed by the snarling cries of a wind eating its way between the black boughs of the thorns. The wind was the furious voice of this sluggish animal light that was baring the dormers and mullions and scullions of Cold Comfort Farm.

There have always been Starkadders at Cold Comfort Farm

Well,' said Mrs Smiling, 'it sounds an appalling place, but in a different way from all the others. I mean, it does sound interesting and appalling, while the others just sound appalling.

Here was an occasion, she thought, for indulging in that deliberate rudeness which only persons with habitually good manners have the right to commit.

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

The life of a journalist is poor, nasty, brutish, and short. So is his style

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