“Hegel remarks somewhere that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.”

“Even amidst tragedy there is laughter, sometimes farce. The degree of farce depends on who is running the tragedy.”

“At the first time, I do my best to try againagainst the inevitable tragedy.In the second time, I become disgustedtowards the inevitable tragedy.The third time, disgust is overwhelmed into painfulness.But by the seventh time, this all becomes a farce comedy.”

“This then was English fiction, this was English criticism, and farce, after all, was but an ill-played tragedy.”

“God has, in fact, written two books, not just one. Of course, we are all familiar with the first book he wrote, namely Scripture. But he has written a second book called creation.”

“Anyone who has the temerity to write about Jane Austen is aware of [two] facts: first, that of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness; second, that there are twenty-five elderly gentlemen living in the neighbourhood of London who resent any slight upon her genius as if it were an insult to the chastity of their aunts.”