Hate gets going, it goes round, it gets older and tighter and older and tighter, until it holds a person inside it like a fist holds a stick.

It is very hard for evil to take hold of the unconsenting soul.

Not even need and love can defeat fate.

I can never get used to the fact, though I know it, that women are born cynics. Men have to learn cynicism. Infant girls could teach it to them.

I think the mystery of art lies in this, that artists’ relationship is essentially with their work — not with power, not with profit, not with themselves, not even with their audience.

I had forgotten how much light there is in the world, till you gave it back to me.

To learn which questions are unanswerable, and not to answer them: this skill is most needful in times of stress and darkness.