Once outside the magic circle the writers became their lonely selves, pondering on poems, observing their fellow men ruthlessly, putting people they ….

She set about preparing her supper. It would have to be one of those classically simple meals, the sort that French peasants are said to eat and that….

I stretched out my hand towards the little bookshelf where I kept cookery and devotional books, the most comfortable bedside reading..

I pulled myself up and told myself to stop these ridiculous thoughts, wondering why it is that we can never stop trying to analyse the motives of peo….

The small things of life were often so much bigger than the great things . . . the trivial pleasure like cooking, one's home, little poems especially….

I realised that one might love him secretly with no hope of encouragement, which can be very enjoyable for the young or inexperienced..

Dulcie always found a public library a little upsetting, for one saw so many odd people there..

She had always been an unashamed reader of novels..

My thoughts went round and round and it occurred to me that if I ever wrote a novel it would be of the 'stream of consciousness' type and deal with a….

Oh, this coming back to an empty house,' Rupert thought, when he had seen her safely up to her door. People - though perhaps it was only women - seem….

You know Mildred would never do anything wrong or foolish. I reflected a little sadly that this was only too true and hoped I did not appear too much….

There are no sick people in North Oxford. They are either dead or alive. It's sometimes difficult to tell the difference, that's all..

Oh, but it was splendid the things women were doing for men all the time, thought Jane. Making them feel, perhaps sometimes by no more than a casual ….

There are various ways of mending a broken heart, but perhaps going to a learned conference is one of the more unusual..

Life is cruel and we do terrible things to each other..

Perhaps I need some shattering experience to awaken and inspire me, or at least to give me some emotion to recollect in tranquility. But how to get i….

I imagine the proverb about too many cooks spoiling the broth can be applied to writing as well as anything else. The poetical or literary broth is b….

Of course it's all right for librarians to smell of drink..

Perhaps there can be too much making of cups of tea, I thought, as I watched Miss Statham filling the heavy teapot. Did we really need a cup of tea? ….

I was so astonished that I could think of nothing to say, but wondered irrelevantly if I was to be caught with a teapot in my hand on every dramatic ….

The burden of keeping three people in toilet paper seemed to me rather a heavy one..