A flowerless room is a soulless room, to my way of thinking; but even a solitary little vase of a living flower may redeem it.

Among the many problems which beset the novelist, not the least weighty is the choice of the moment at which to begin his novel.

Still, no gardener would be a gardener if he did not live in hope.

all the small squalors of the body, known only to oneself, insignificant in youth, easily dismissed, in old age became dominant and entered into fulfilment of the tyranny they had always threatened.

I miss you even more than I could have believed; and I was prepared to miss you a good deal.

Travel is the most private of pleasures. There is no greater bore than the travel bore. We do not in the least want to hear what he has seen in Hong-Kong.

The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before.