Wednesday, 31 October 2012

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

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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. Whe...
Tuesday, 30 October 2012

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

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I feel sorry for novelists when they have to mention women's eyes: there's so little choice, and whatever colouring is decided upon ...
Monday, 29 October 2012

'I live alone, like a bear.'

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'I [Flaubert] live alone, like a bear.' (The word 'alone' in this sentence is best glossed as: 'alone except for my pare...
Friday, 26 October 2012

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

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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...
Wednesday, 17 October 2012

Fleetingly I thought of the Mongolian horsemen

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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 ha...
Tuesday, 16 October 2012

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

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Temple Haynes pointed at pictures in turn with a stick, inviting the little men to name them. He seemed pleased to see Moneypenny. "I ...
Monday, 15 October 2012

Protestantism is a disreputable young brother

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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,...