“Conse­quently the Wolfenden recommendations will be indefinitely rejected, police prosecutions will continue and Clive on the bench will continue to sentence Alec in the dock. Maurice may get off.”

“Maurice and Alec still roam the greenwood.”

“A happy ending was imperative. I shouldn't have bothered to write otherwise. I was determined that in fiction anyway two men should fall in love and remain in it for the ever and ever that fiction allows, and in this sense, Maurice and Alec still roam the greenwood.”

“He educated Maurice, or rather his spirit educated Maurice's spirit, for they themselves became equal. Neither thought "Am I led; am I leading?" Love had caught him out of triviality and Maurice out of bewilderment in order that two imperfect souls might touch perfection.”

“A slow nature such as Maurice's appears insensitive, for it needs time even to feel.”

“Maurice hated cricket. It demanded a snickety neatness he could not supply.”

“Maurice was scandalized, horrified. He was shocked to the bottom of his suburban soul....”