Human beings have neither kindness, nor faith, nor charity beyond what serves to increase the pleasure of the moment.

When she read just now to James, 'and there were numbers of soldiers with kettledrums and trumpets,' and his eyes darkened, she thought, why should they grow up, and lose all that?

I'm terrified of passive acquiescence. I live in intensity.

Now, aged 50, I'm just poised to shoot forth quite free straight and undeflected my bolts whatever they are.

As a woman I have no country. As a woman my country is the whole world.

To whom can I expose the urgency of my own passion?…There is nobody—here among these grey arches, and moaning pigeons, and cheerful games and tradition and emulation, all so skilfully organised to prevent feeling alone.

After all, what is a lovely phrase? One that has mopped up as much Truth as it can hold.