“A story lives transformed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken”

“London goes beyond any boundary or convention.It contains every wish or word ever spoken, every action or gesture ever made, every harsh or noble statement ever expressed. It is illimitable. It is Infinite London.”

“And so he was reading the story as if it were a spell and the words of it, spoken aloud, could make magic happen.”

“God is life...Life is all and, too, we see it as simply a word. Yet words born of love, written, spoken or sung, illuminate and redeem the human soul. They become the rays of sunshine that transform an ordinary day.”

“The spoken word is nothing. It hardly lives longer than an insect! Only the written word is eternal. - Balbulus”

“They were governed by private loyalties which they did not question. What mattered were individual relationships, and a completely helpless gesture, an embrace, a tear, a word spoken to a dying man, could have value in itself”