Commonplace Book
-
Last night, Charles had felt her face with his fingers. It had been rather nice, she had to admit, those long hands scrupulously exploring all the contours of her face, as if she were printed out in Braille. She had sensed that he might have liked to go further, but she had not given him
-
From Aquinas and the heretics: Apart from the guardianship of the Church over many centuries, it is hard to see whence would have derived the resources that later gave rise to modern science, the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment. The fundamental conceptions of progress, truth, compassion, the dignity of the individual, and the centrality of personal
-
Herman, left alone, sat with his head bowed. He had noticed a copy of the Bible on the shelf near his chair and he leaned over and took it out. He leafed through the pages and found Psalms: ‘Be gracious unto me, O Lord, for I am in distress. Mine eye wasteth away with vexation,
-
The Mistress of Novices in Kathryn Hulme’s The Nun’s Story capturing some of the difficulties of life in community: ‘Once, long ago, I too found the community life a pure agony. I suffered, knowing that my forced participation could never be pleasing to God. I struggled to overcome this. I thought about the Christ who
-
Wise words on choices from Aldous Huxley’s Point Counter Point: Lucy shook her head. ‘Perhaps it’s a pity,’ she admitted. ‘But you can’t get something for nothing. If you like speed, if you want to cover the ground, you can’t have luggage. The thing is to know what you want and to be ready to pay
-
Lawrence Durrell in Justine (Faber Fiction Classics) on the poet Cavafy: [Balthazar] had been a fellow-student and close friend of the old poet, and of him he spoke with such warmth and penetration that what he had to say always moved me. ‘I sometimes think that I learned more from studying him than I did
-
‘Progress!’ [Lord Edward] echoed, and the tone of misery and embarrassment was exchanged for one of confidence. ‘Progress! You politicians are always talking about it. As though it were going to last. Indefinitely. More motors, more babies, more food, more advertising, more money, more everything, for ever. You ought to take a few lessons in
-
“Capitalism detests sleep because it’s a time when nothing gets sold or consumed.”
-
‘A woman went to get a taxi with her son at the Isle of Dogs. At the street corner it was all whores hanging around waiting for trade. “Mum, mum: what are all those women doing?” Mum was embarrassed, but quick-thinking: “I expect it’s the sailors’ wives waiting for their husbands to come back from
-
There was no breeze except the wind of the ship’s own speed; and that was like a blast from the engine-room. Stretched in their chairs Philip and Elinor watched the gradual diminution against the sky of a jagged island of bare red rock. From the deck above came the sound of people playing shuffle-board. Walking
Virginia Rounding: Author, editor, proofreader, indexer 