“I was like a little boy showing off my toys, desperate to win approval.”

“It shows considerable wisdom to know what you want in life and then to direct all your energies towards getting it.”

“We have all sinned, Mr. Darcy, and we cannot look for mercy without showing it in our lives.”

“Her aunt and uncle worked fifteen hours a day in their desperate attempt to keep the corner shop in profit, and their Sundays were marked by exhaustion. The moral code by which they lived was that of cleanliness, respectability and prudence. Religion was for those who had the time for it, a middle-class indulgence.”

“Perhaps it's only when people are dead that we can safely show how much we cared about them. We know that it's too late then for them to do anything about it.”

“It's easy to get a reputation for wisdom. It's only necessary to live long, speak little and do less.”

“I love the idea of bringing order out of disorder which is what the mystery is about. I like the way in which it affirms the sanity of human life and exorcises irrational guilts.”