The best prose is written by authors who see their universe with a poet’s eyes.

It never seems to occur to anybody that some women may not want to find husbands.

I know of no place where the wind can be as icy and the damp so penetrating as in Oxford round about Easter time.

There is an abiding beauty which may be appreciated by those who will see things as they are and who will ask for no reward except to see.

The joys of motherhood are not excessively apparent during the first few weeks of a baby's life.

Nevertheless, hateful as saying 'No' always is to an imaginative person, and certain as the offence may be that it will cause to individuals whose own work does not require isolated effort, the writer who is engaged on a book must learn to say it. He must say it consistently to all interrupters; to the numerous callers and correspondents who want him to speak, open bazaars, see them for 'only' ten minutes, attend literary parties, put people up, or read, correct and find publishers for semi-literate manuscripts by his personal friends.

I thought that spring must last forevermore, For I was young and loved, and it was May.