“It's amazing how right you can sometimes be about a person you don't know; it's only the people you do know who confuse you.”

“It's amazing how right you can be about a person you don't know; it's only the people you do know who confuse you.”

“I remember a little later wondering why things always turn out to be diametrically opposed to what you expect them to be. It's no good even trying to predict what this opposite will be because it always fools you and turns out to be the opposite of that, if you see what I mean. If you think this is geometrically impossible all I can say is that you don't know my life”

“It's just that I know the world is so wide and full of people and exciting things that I just go crazy every day stuck in these institutions. I mean if I don't get started soon, how will I get the chance to sharpen my wits? It takes lots of training. You have to start very young.”

“No matter what you do you've got to try to do it well. Otherwise, it's unbearable.”

“I don't always understand other people's motives. I will repeat that for my own benefit, if you don't mind. I don't always understand other people's motives.”

“You're not playing the game," he said grimly. "English gossip isn't supposed to get back to the person it's about.”