30 Quotes by Angela Thirkell

Perhaps as one gets older one takes one's joys altruistically,"said John, in turn thinking aloud. "I must say though I sometimes wish I could get it selfishly, just for myself, as Gay used to give me, when I was young."Lady Emily found nothing to say. John's last words fell dead on her heart. It terrified her that he could speak of his youth as a perished thing.

Never economize on luxuries.

Christmas, so long looming over everyone’s head, finally surged up, buried everyone alive and ebbed away, leaving its victims distinctly cross.

If one cannot invent a really convincing lie, it is often better to stick to the truth.

There are few pleasures like really burrowing one’s nose into sweet peas.

First love is an astounding experience and if the object happens to be totally unworthy and love not really love at all, it makes little difference to the intensity of the pain.

People who say Jane or talk about Janeites revolt me. The sort that can walk with kings and not lose that common touch. ‘Miss Austen to you’ is what I feel inclined to say.

If only life were one long crisis, everyone would be perfect.

Time is a very rum thing, as Shakespeare knew – ambling, trotting, galloping and sometimes standing still; though why he had to add “withal” to these interesting facts we cannot explain. Perhaps he could not explain either, but wrote whatever came into his head.