"Writers must fortify themselves with pride and egotism as best they can. The process is analogous to using sandbags and loose timbers to protect a house against flood. Writers are vulnerable creatures like anyone else. For what do they have in reality? Not sandbags, not timbers. Just a flimsy reputation and a name."

“One of the characteristics of age was that all avenues of talk led backward in time.”

“You know that if you had been in charge of creation you would have found some medium less heart-breaking than Time to stage it in.”

“If you think with your emotions, slight glandular changes are sufficient to revise your entire outlook.”

“Why don’t you go somewhere quietly and consult your history books if you have no consciences to consult?”

“An overcrowded world is the ideal place in which to be lonely.”

“Frank II liked Spain. Philip's capital was gayer, warmer, and more sanitary than London. It was intoxicating to enjoy the best of both courts. It proved also extremely remunerative: the shared consciousness of Frank I and II was by far the quickest communicational link between the two rival countries, and as such was worth money. Not that Frank revealed his secret to a soul, but he let it be known he had a fleet of capable spies who moved without risk of detection between England and Spain. Burly Lord Burleigh beamed upon him. So did the Duke of Medina Sidonia.”