“Never to lie is to have no lock on your door, you are never wholly alone.”

“Karen, her elbows folded on the deck-rail, wanted to share with someone the pleasure in being alone: this is the paradox of any happy solitude. She had never landed at Cork, so this hill and that hill beyond were as unexpected as pictures at which you say "Oh look!" Nobody was beside her to share the moment, which would have been imperfect with anyone else there.”

“Rich women live at such a distance from life that very often they never see their money — the Queen, they say, for instance, never carries a purse.”

“Reason can never reconcile one to life: nothing allays the wants one cannot explain.”

“The happy passive nature, locked up with itself like a mirror in an airy room, reflects what goes on but demands not to be approached.”

“You must show him your monkey: I am sure he will like that.”

“When you love someone, all your saved-up wishes start coming out.”