There is not a single homely thing that, looked at from a certain angle, does not become fairy.

- Hope Mirrlees

Reason I know, is only a drug, and, as such, its effects are never permanent. But, like the juice of the poppy, it often gives a temporary relief.

- Hope Mirrlees

Pride and resentment are not indigenous to the human heart; and perhaps it is due to the gardener's innate love of the exotic that we take such pains…

- Hope Mirrlees

A house with old furniture has no need of ghosts to be haunted.

- Hope Mirrlees

In [man's] mouth is ever the bittersweet taste of life and death, unknown to the trees. Without respite he is dragged by the two wild horses, memory …

- Hope Mirrlees

The round towers of the castles looked as if they were so firmly encrusted in the sky that, to get to their other side, one would have to hew out a p…

- Hope Mirrlees