“Recipe for a happy marriage: My wife and I always hold hands. If I let go, she shops.”

“My doctor said I look like a million dollars - green and wrinkled.”

“Our principles are the springs of our actions. Our actions, the springs of our happiness or misery. Too much care, therefore, cannot be taken in forming our principles. ”

“I don't need glasses, but I've just reached the age where curiosity is greater than vanity.”

“Good night, and may God Bless”

“How to begin writing this down? Shall it be a simple inventory? A list of parts. Names. Dates. Genealogies. Soundbegetting sound. Endless melody. If I were to say – a robin sings in the trees across the field from this coppice – would that be enough? Could you flesh things out from such a meagre outline? Or should I describe its song?Onomatopoeia. But the bird has long fallen silent before the words begin to form. And what of the other sounds – the constant polyphony? Distant hum of motorway traffic. Delicate rattle of leaf against branch. Everything in between. I fill the page as best I can, replace the diary under a stone, andretrace my steps down the darkening lane. But as I walk back under the eaves of those trees, I ask myself– could any film, recording or photograph tell you this? That whilst I dwelt within that wooded chamber, listening to those brief glimmers of song, I forgot about her, the river and its promise.”

“She smiled. "How...cute." She chose the word rather like a candy, which she bit.”