He had never learned to live without delight. And he would have to learn to, just as, in a Prohibition country, he supposed he wou...ld have to learn to live without sherry. Theoretically he knew that life is possible, may be even pleasant, without joy, without passionate griefs. But it had never occurred to him that he might have to live like that.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
"In great misfortunes," he told himself, "people want to be alone. They have a right to be. And the misfortunes that occur within ...one are the greatest. Surely the saddest thing in the world is falling out of love--if once one has ever fallen in." Falling out, for him, seemed to mean falling out of all domestic and social relations, out of his place in the human family, indeed.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Desire is creation, is the magical element in that process. If there were an instrument by which to measure desire, one could fore...tell achievement.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The great fact in life, the always possible escape from dullness, was the lake. The sun rose out of it, the day began there; it wa...s like an open door that nobody could shut. The land and all its dreariness could never close in on you. You had only to look at the lake, and you knew you would soon be free.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
His misfortune was that he loved youth--he was weak to it, it kindled him. If there was one eager eye, one doubting, critical mind..., one lively curiosity in a whole lecture-room full of commonplace boys and girls, he was its servant. That ardour could command him. It hadn't worn out with years, this responsiveness, any more than the magnetic currents wear out; it had nothing to do with Time.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »