“Why, Mrs. Piper has a good deal to say, chiefly in parentheses and without punctuation, but not much to tell.”

“(Parentheses speakMore than we dare say out loudWhy, oh, why is that?)”

“has that Copperfield no tague! I would do a good deal for you, if you tell me, without lying that somebody had cut it out”

“Why hyphenate, why parenthesize, unless absolutely necessary?”

“How does it happen that a writer who's not even very good - and I can say that, I've read four or five of his books - gets to be in charge of the world's destiny? Or of the entire universe's?"If he's not very good, why didn't you stop at one?"Mrs. Tassenbaum smiled. "Touché. He is readable, I'll give him that - tells a good story...”

“[Mrs. Allen was] never satisfied with the day unless she spent the chief of it by the side of Mrs. Thorpe, in what they called conversation, but in which there was scarcely ever any exchange of opinion, and not often any resemblance of subject, for Mrs. Thorpe talked chiefly of her children, and Mrs. Allen of her gowns.”