I have the reputation for having read all of Henry James. Which would argue a misspent youth and middle age.
Man has always assumed that his is the highest form of life in the universe. There is, of course, nothing at all with which to sustain this view.
You’ll never live to wed his niece. You’ll only die to feed his geese.
People who do not understand pigeons – and pigeons can be understood only when you understand that there is nothing to understand about them – should not go around describing pigeons or the effect of pigeons.
This heavish sweety fragrance,’ Thag muttered to himself, ‘that rises, or that roses, isn’t fit for human noses, and it tricks the minds of men. Three times two is eight,’ he said, ’and one is ten.
The cold Duke was afraid of Now, for Now has warmth and urgency, and Then is dead and buried.
The jewels of sorrow last forever.
The Duke is lamer than I am old, and I am shorter than he is cold, but it comes to you with some surprise that I am wiser than he is wise.
On his misfit globe he has outlasted the mammoth and the pterodactyl, but he has never got the upper hand of bacteria and the insects.
I won’t be listed and labeled or tabbed and tagged,” said Clode. “If I want a book, I’ll get a book.
Hens embarrass me; owls disturb me; if I am with an eagle I always pretend that I am not with an eagle...
At least she’s not guilty of integrity, and that’s more than I can say of any Bell in four generations except my grandfather and myself.
We all have flaws,” he said, “and mine is being wicked.
When I was a young writer, I liked to imagine that I was paying someone for every word I wrote, rather than being paid for it; it was a fine way to discipline myself to use only those words I needed.
A soft finger touched his shoulder and he turned to see a little man smiling in the moonlight. He wore an indescribable hat, his eyes were wide and astonished, as if everything were happening for the first time, and he had a dark describable beard.
There was a smell, the Golux thought, a little like Forever in the air, but mixed with something faint and less enduring, possibly the fragrance of a flower.
It is more dangerous to strong-arm life than to embrace it.
Now, taking books, or anything else, from a little girl is like taking arms from an Arab, or candy from a baby...
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread, and the angels are all in Heaven, but few of the fools are dead.
Laugh and the world laughs with you, love and you love alone.
Dius gre gling minus gress” meant “Odious ogre ogling ominous ogress,” but only scholars knew it.