Affection is created by habit, community of interests, convenience and the desire of companionship. It is a comfort rather than an exhilaration.

Thank God, I can look at a sunset now without having to think how to describe it

As we grow older we become more conscious of the complexity, incoherence, and unreasonableness of human beings; this indeed is the only excuse that offers for the middle-aged or elderly writer whose thoughts should more properly be turned to graver matters, occupying himself with the trivial concerns of imaginary people.

No action is in itself good or bad, but only such according to convention.

The crown of literature is poetry. It is its end and aim. It is the sublimest activity of the human mind. It is the achievement of beauty and delicacy. The writer of prose can only step aside when the poet passes.

There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

The officers saluted as she passed and gravely bowed. They walked back across the courtyard and got into their chairs. She saw Waddington light a cigarette. A little smoke lost in the air, that was the life of a man.