Old men are like that, you know. It makes them feel important to think they are in love with somebody.

Henry Colbert, the miller, always breakfasted with his wife--beyond that he appeared irregularly at the family table.

Prayers said by good people are always good prayers

Merely having seen the season change in a country gave one the sense of having been there for a long time.

Thea was still under the belief that public opinion could be placated; that if you clucked often enough, the hens would mistake you for one of themselves.

The air and the earth interpenetrated in the warm gusts of spring; the soil was full of sunlight, and the sunlight full of red dust. The air one breathed was saturated with earthy smells, and the grass under foot had a reflection of the blue sky in it.

Paris is a hard place to leave, even when it rains incessantly and one coughs continually from the dampness.