“There are souls in this world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere and of leaving it behind them when they go.”

“There are souls in this world who have the gift of finding joy everywhere, and leaving it behind them when they go.”

“Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence, or learning.”

“A good meal soothes the soul as it regenerates the body.From the abundance of it flows a benign benevolence.”

“A single day spent doing things which fail to nourish the soul is a day stolen, mutilated, and discarded in the gutter of destiny.”

“Falling in love: how does it work? Over the years we gather the odd clue, but nothing adds up. We’d like to think we have a picture of our future partner projected in our mind, all their qualities recorded as if on film, and we just search the planet for that person until we find them, sitting in Casablanca waiting to be recognised. But in reality our love lives are blown around by career and coincidence, not to mention lack of nerve on given occasions, and we never have respectable reasons for anything until we have to make them up afterwards for the benefit of our curious friends.”

“Yes, seven years old she was, when she finally plucked up the courage to ask her mother what Christmas was all about, and Mrs Castaway replied (once only, after which the subject was forever forbidden): ‘It’s the day Jesus Christ died for our sins. Evidently unsuccessfully, since we’re still paying for them.”