Nothing is more frightening than the completely inexplicable.

I really dislike the sort of people who aren’t like other people. It’s true other people are so boring. But so are the ones who aren’t like them.

The matter could in fact have been resolved quite simply if all those round the table had been equally intelligent. But in this life that is rarely given.

The nature of civilisation everywhere was such that, even with the Greeks, it diverted people’s minds away from the reality of death.

Love preserves one moment for ever, the moment of its birth. The beloved never ages.

We were so intimate that it wasn’t possible to flirt or fall in love with one another. For love, there has to be a distance across which the lovers can approach one another. The approach is of course an illusion, because love in fact separate people. Love is a polarity. Two lovers are the two oppositely charged poles of the universe.

We carry within ourselves the direction our lives will take. Within ourselves burn the timeless, fateful stars.

The sense of impending disaster hung over the garden like a chandelier.

In London November isn’t a month, it’s a state of mind.

And while there is life there is always the chance that something might happen...