Not literature alone, but society itself is wormed and rotten when language ceases to be respected not merely by advertisers and politicians, but by persons of learning and authority.

jealousy, the most hideous emotion any human being ever suffers, has nothing to do with the mind. Or not at first.

Lord, if there is a heartache Vienna cannot cure I hope never to feel it. I came home cured of everything except Vienna.

Inevitably, the flood of literary pornography loosed on us is dulling our reactions of surprise or shock. Its writers are forced to raise the ante, to provide stronger and stronger stimulants. Or try to provide them, since both the manner, the naming of parts and the few inexpressive four-letter words, and the matter, are narrowly limited.

invaders always destroy libraries.

Perhaps this is in the end what most marriages are - gentleness, memory, and habit.

She did not so much cook as assassinate food.