He was, I told myself, a unique experience in my existence; I never think definitely of him as man or boy, as older or younger, taller or shorter than I am, but always of him as a mind in tune with mine, in which many of the notes are quite different from mine but are all in the same key.

Like no one else... you share that part of my mind that associates itself mostly with ideal things and places... The impression thinking about you gives me is very closely linked with that given me by a lonely hillside or a sunny afternoon... or books that have meant more to me than I can explain... This is grand, but still it isn't enough for this world... The earthly and obvious part of me longs to see and touch you and realise you as tangible.

The idea that it is necessary to go to a university in order to become a successful writer . . . is one of those fantasies that surround authorship.

There is an abiding beauty which may be appreciated by those who will see things as they are and who will ask for no reward except to see.

Politics are usually the executive expression of human immaturity.

Meek wifehood is no part of my profession; I am your friend, but never your possession.