“He peered gloomily into a folio of maps. 'I always think Brazil is too big.”

“We always think we know what we want: when in truth there is nothing we are less likely to know.”

“Keats was getting a reputation just when he was too ill to appreciate it or build on it: his country was taking notice of him just when he would have to leave it.”

“I can always forgive where I understand.”

“I am no faint-heart when it comes to the unpleasant truth. Indeed I have always taken a bracing sort of pleasure in facing it.”

“Love is always unexpected”

“It is not always easy, for a woman alone.”