21 Quotes by Hannah Rothschild

Is it about lack of closure, unfinished business?" he asked. "Or perhaps that, whether people are with us or not, the relationship keeps on going. The dead only leave the room; they remain firmly in our lives.

Maybe I've got to that age when a woman turns to God, gardening or genealogy.

History is like waves on a seashore: tides come and go but nothing really changes.

Capriciousness is the preserve of the old. So marvelous to be able to let random thoughts pour from the mind to the tongue without pause or retribution.

One of the most unfair things about capitalism is that once you’ve made a lot of money, it becomes easier to make more: the wealthy don’t have to do a lot.

You have an opportunity to help someone, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life,” Alvira continued, “it’s better to be needed than wanted. Desire and romantic love pass, leaving little trace. But dependency has an afterglow, the satisfaction of having done something good.

Can you miss someone you haven’t seen for longer than you knew them? Maybe we rue the time not the person.

After a while they came through a clearing and emerged in a deep cleft of a valley whose high banks were covered in wild flowers and grasses. Blaze gasped; it was enchanting. There was an open pasture planted with mature oaks and beech trees and through the middle a meandering river with sheep grazing on one side, cattle on the other. Occasionally there was a break in the ribbon of green made by a drystone wall, a rambling hedge or a small copse, but otherwise the valley seemed endless.

The mundanity of those chores, the repetition, acts as a kind of meditation. I start each day with a series of numbers and questions written on a piece of paper, put them in my pocket and get on with the business of farming. By mid morning the answers are clear.