The candle-buds opened their wide white flowers....Their scent spilled out into the air and took possession of the island.

I am astonished at the ease with which uninformed persons come to a settled, a passionate opinion when they have no grounds for judgment.

Ralph... would treat the day's decisions as though he were playing chess. The only trouble was that he would never be a very good chess player.

Art is partly communication, but only partly. The rest is discovery.

What a man does defiles him, not what is done by others.

I do like people to read the books twice, because I write my novels about ideas which concern me deeply and I think are important, and therefore I want people to take them seriously. And to read it twice of course is taking it seriously.

If faces were different when lit from above or below -- what was a face? What was anything?