I am ill at ease with people whose lives are an open book.

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.

World War II had a very important impact on the development of technology, as a whole.

A pound invested in energy efficiency buys seven times more energy solution than a pound invested in nuclear power.

Passion produces the best discipline.

I said, other people can write songs, let's see if I can. So the first 400 or 500 wound up on the floor somewhere. Then I wrote one called Melissa.

From exertion come wisdom and purity; from sloth ignorance and sensuality.

Life may not be beautiful, but it is interesting.

The nights seem to me too long... I am often scolded by Madame Pasteur, but I tell her I shall lead her to fame.

The values derived from religious belief will not - and should not - be accepted as part of the public morality unless they are shared by the pluralistic community at large, by consensus.

The only real purpose of a goal is to inspire you to fall more deeply in love with life.

There is never a question of what to paint but only how to paint.