There was an immeasurable distance between the quick and the dead: they did not seem to belong to the same species; and it was strange to think that but a little while before they had spoken and moved and eaten and laughed.

Comedy appeals to the collective mind of the audience and this grows fatigued; while farce appeals to a more robust organ, their collective belly.

A novelist must preserve a childlike belief in the importance of things which common sense considers of no great consequence.

The trouble with young writers is that they are all in their sixties.

Have common sense and stick to the point.

It is unfair to expect a politician to live in private up to the statements he makes in public.

She’s wonderful. Tell her I’ve never seen such beautiful hands. I wonder what she sees in you.” Waddington, smiling, translated the question. “She says I’m good.” “As if a woman ever loved a man for his virtue,” Kitty mocked.