[On writing:] What a difficult kind of work to choose! But of course one did not choose it. There was no choice.

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.

Architecture begins when you place two bricks carefully together.

Chestnuts in stuffing tastes like someone chewed up a tree branch and then French-kissed it into your mouth.

That is why, with optimism instead of fear, all those who want to see Puerto Rico's status resolved should seek the truth about each option, including the upside and the downside of each.

There was I, devouring books and yet allowing a man who had never read a book to walk me home for a bit of harmless fumbling on the front steps.

Love is not a matter of what happens in life. It's a matter of what's happening in your heart.

(Home) is you in things.

I don't think that anyone can age in a conscious way and not experience grief.

How foolish it would be if women did not obey men. The world would be all confusion!

I have no truck with lettuce, cabbage, and similar chlorophyll. Any dietitian will tell you that a running foot of apple strudel contains four times the vitamins of a bushel of beans.

Also remember that in any man's dark hour, a pat on the back and an earnest handclasp may work a small miracle.