A man has his distinctive personal scent which his wife, his children and his dog can recognize. A crowd has a generalized stink. The public is odorless.

Money is the necessity that frees us from necessity. Of all novelists in any country, Trollope best understands the role of money. Compared with him even Balzac is a romantic.

No hero is mortal till he dies.

All wishes, whatever their apparent content, have the same and unvarying meaning: "I refuse to be what I am."

There are three cardinal rules - don't take somebody else's boyfriend unless you've been specifically invited to do so, don't take a drink without being asked, and keep a scrupulous accounting in financial matters.

Shall memory restore The steps and the shore, The face and the meeting place.

The most exciting rhythms seem unexpected and complex, the most beautiful melodies simple and inevitable.