I don’t say things have got worse; I merely say the young wouldn’t notice if they had

When you are young, you think that the old lament the deterioration of life because this makes it easier for them to die without regret. When you are old, you become impatient with the way in which the young applaud the most insignificant improvements - the invention of some new valve or sprocket - while remaining heedless of the world’s barbarism. I don’t say things have got worse; I merely say the young wouldn’t notice if they had. The old times were good because then we were young, and ignorant of how ignorant the young can be.

J. Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot (1984), 199

I feel sorry for novelists when they have to mention women's eyes

I feel sorry for novelists when they have to mention women's eyes: there's so little choice, and whatever colouring is decided upon inevitably carries banal implications. Her eyes are blue: innocence and honesty. Her eyes are black: passion and depth. Her eyes are green: wildness and jealousy. Her eyes are brown: reliability and common sense. Her eyes are violet: the novel is by Raymond Chandler.

J. Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot (1984), 85

'I live alone, like a bear.'

'I [Flaubert] live alone, like a bear.' (The word 'alone' in this sentence is best glossed as: 'alone except for my parents, my sister, the servants, our dog, Caroline's goat, and my regular visits from Alfred le Poittevin'.)

J. Barnes, Flaubert's Parrot (1984), 48 

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there

L.P. Hartley, The Go between (1953), 1

Two points:
1. I hadn't ever realised this was from a novel as recent as the 50s, but have now discovered it. It's a great line, one every historian who is asked to demonstrate relevance of their work would do well to reply with.
2. Reading the book, it astonished me how many people commented on the Yellow Pages advert that refers to J.R. Hartley. That ad was first shown in 1983! Extraordinary.

Fleetingly I thought of the Mongolian horsemen

Fleetingly I thought of the Mongolian horsemen who tried to make of China an infinite pasture ground and then grew old in the cities they had longed to destroy

J.L. Borges, 'Story of the warrior and the captive' in Labyrinths (1962), 161

Temple Haynes pointed at pictures in turn with a stick, inviting the little men to name them

Temple Haynes pointed at pictures in turn with a stick, inviting the little men to name them. He seemed pleased to see Moneypenny. "I don't seen to getting very far with this dialect," he said. "They keep saying the same thing. They seem to give everything the same name." He read off a weird word from his notebook. "That," he said.

"Yes," said Moneypenny. "That means 'picture'."

"Why do you have more than one picture of each thing?" asked Crabbe.

"That," said Temple Haynes, "is for plurals."

A. Burgess, Beds in the East (1959), Malayan trilogy edition: 508
"

Protestantism is a disreputable young brother

My reactions are most unorthodox. I feel less hurt about your entering Islam than I would if you were to become a Protestant. That is wrong, for Protestantism is a disreputable young brother but still of the family. Whereas Islam is the old enemy.

A. Burgess, The Enemy in the Blanket (1958), Malayan trilogy edition: 244