357 Quotes by Elizabeth Bowen

Grown-up people seem to be busy by clockwork: even when someone is not ill, when there has been no telegram, they run their unswerving course from object to object, directed by some mysterious inner needle that points all the time to what they must do next. You can only marvel at such misuse of time.

Language seldom fails quietly, it fails noisily.

You don't much like anything, do you?""No, nothing," said Anna, smiling her nice fat malign smile.

What do you want me to say?""I wish you would say something. Our life goes by without any comment.

He left her and looked round for his glass again. Meanwhile, he said to himself in a quoting voice: "We are minor in everything but our passions.""Wherever did you read that?""Nowhere: I woke up and heard myself saying it, one night.""How pompous you were in the night. I'm so glad I was asleep.

You think I exaggerate.""At the moment—""Well, this sort of moment never really stops . . .

What's in your mind, I suppose, is, why should you rise to occasions when I don't? Let's face it—who ever is adequate? We all create situations each other can't live up to, then break our hearts at them because they don't.

To love makes one less clever.

He feels spikes everywhere and rushes to impale himself.