It is clear that the books owned the shop rather than the other way about. Everywhere they had run wild and taken possession of their habitat, breeding and multiplying, and clearly lacking any strong hand to keep them down.
It is really a hard life. Men will not be nice to you if you are not good-looking, and women will not be nice to you if you are.
Never do anything yourself that others can do for you.
The young people think the old people are fools – but the old people know the young people are fools.
At my time of life, one knows that the worst is usually true.
I don’t think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness – to save oneself trouble.
When the sea goes down, there will come from the mainland boats and men. And they will find ten dead bodies and an unsolved problem on Indian Island.
I just woke up feeling happy this morning. You know those days when everything in the world seems right.
Be sure thy sin will find thee out.
Everything that has existed, lingers in the Eternity.
The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it.
The happy people are failures because they are on such good terms with themselves they don’t give a damn.
Any woman can fool a man if she wants to and if he’s in love with her.
Women observe subconsciously a thousand little details, without knowing they are doing so. Their subconscious mind adds these little things together – and they call the result intuition.
Words, madmoiselle, are only the outer clothing of ideas.
I’ve always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worry and only half the royalties.
Coffee in England always tastes like a chemistry experiment.
Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that’s no reason not to give it.
Everything must be taken into account. If the fact will not fit the theory – let the theory go.
Mr. Jesmond made a peculiar noise rather like a hen who has decided to lay an egg and then thought better of it.