Civilized life exacts its toll.

A leopard does not change his spots, or change his feeling that spots are rather a credit.

Anyone who picks up a Compton-Burnett finds it very hard not to put it down.

There are different kinds of wrong. The people sinned against are not always the best.

My youth is escaping without giving me anything it owes me.

We can build upon foundations anywhere if they are well and firmly laid.

As regards plot I find real life no help at all. Real life seems to have no plots. And as I think a plot desirable and almost necessary, I have this extra grudge against life.

Real life seems to have no plots.

I never know why self-sacrifice is noble. Why is it better to sacrifice oneself than someone else?

Many people misjudge the permanent effect of sorrow, and their capacity to live in the past.

Appearances are not held to be a clue to the truth,' said his cousin. 'But we seem to have no other.

Those who wish to sing always find a song.

Julia heard from her mummy that fairies were gentle creatures with singing voices just like the mermaids.

Be the designer of your own future.

I found something! Courage--just that

That's why people listen to music or look at paintings. To get in touch with that wholeness.

Obamacare is destroying America.

I don't think his elevator went all the way to the top anymore, if you know what I mean

Sometimes in my tent, late at night, I think I can hear the stars scraping against the sky.

Nothing makes a man feel older than to hear a band coming up the street and not to have the impulse to rush downstairs and out on to the sidewalk.

I have written only what I have thought through, felt through and suffered through.