“As my intimacy with his family grew, I became part of the world which he sought to escape; I became one of the bonds which held him.”

“Rex, in his early forties, had grown heavy and ruddy; he had lost his Canadian accent and acquired instead the hoarse, loud tone that was common to all his friends, as though their voices were perp...”

“The worse I am, the more I need God. I can't shut myself out from His mercy. That is what it would mean; starting a life with you, without Him.”

“I am sorry to disturb you,' said James politely, 'but these people wished to shoot us.”

“I know I am awful. But how much more awful I should be without the Faith.”

“One of the problems of the vacation is money, father.Oh, I shouldnt worry about a thing like that at your age.You see, Ive run rather short.Yes? said my father without any sound of interest.In fact...”

“We are all so guilty at the way we have allowed the world around us to become more ugly and tasteless every year that we surrender to terror and steep ourselves in it.”

“Prison always has been a good place for writers, killing, as it does, the twin demons of mobility and diversion”

“All others are outside myself;I lock my door and bar them outThe turmoil, tedium, gad-about.I lock my door upon myself,And bar them out; but who shall wallSelf from myself, most loathed of all?If I...”