To fulfil the dreams of one's youth; that is the best that can happen to a man. No worldly success can take the place of that.

The great fact was the land itself, which seemed to overwhelm the little beginnings of human society that struggled in its sombre wastes.

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

There seemed to be nothing to see; no fences, no creeks or trees, no hills or fields. If there was a road, I could not make it out in the faint starlight. There was nothing but land: not a country at all, but the material out of which countries are made.

A soup like this is not the work of one man. It is the result of a constantly refined tradition. There are nearly a thousand years of history in this soup.

Let people go on talking as they like, and we will go on living as we think best.

A work-room should be like an old shoe; no matter how shabby, it's better than a new one.