There are no signposts in the sea.

The more one gardens, the more one learns; And the more one learns, the more one realizes how little one knows.

a letter, by its arrival, defrauds us of a whole secret region of our existence, the only region indeed in which the true pleasure of life may be tasted, the region of imagination, creative and protean, the clouds and beautiful shapes of whose heaven are destroyed by the wind of reality.

I have come to the conclusion, after many years of sometimes sad experience, that you cannot come to any conclusion at all.

I like owls. I admire their intransigent spirit. I have respected them deeply ever since I met a baby owl in a wood, when it fell over dead, apparently from sheer temper, because I dared to approach it. It defied me first, and then died. I have never forgotten the horror and shame I experienced when that soft fluffy thing (towards which I had nothing but the most humanitarian motives) fell dead from rage at my feet.

The Saluki is a marvel of elegance.

[On writing:] The most egotistic of occupations, and the most gratifying while it lasts.