“Perhaps one has to be very old before one learns to be amused rather than shocked.”

“To get into the best society, nowadays, one has either to feed people, amuse people, or shock people - that is all!”

“I felt rather exhausted, and wondered, rather shocked at my callous thought, why old people were sometimes such a strain. Worse than young children or puppies because one had to be polite.”

“When any distress or terror surprises us in the midst of our amusements, it naturally makes a deeper impression than at other times, either because the contrast makes us more keenly susceptible, or rather perhaps because our senses are then more open to impressions, and the shock is consequently stronger.”

“At the small table, sitting very upright, was one of the ugliest old ladies he had ever seen. It was an ugliness of distinction - it fascinated rather than repelled.”

“There is only one kind of shock worse than the totally unexpected: the expected for which one has refused to prepare.”