"Architects and engineers are among the most fortunate of men since they build their own monuments with public consent, public approval and often public money."

"'I don't want to do any of those things you said. I want – I want – to make things right.' 'Then so you shall.' 'Is it so easy?' 'Not easy. Not easy at all. Think how much is wanting to make things wrong. All the fear in the world, and the violence that comes from the fear, and the hatred that comes from the violence, and the loneliness that comes from the hatred. All the unhappiness, all the cruelty, it gathers like clouds in the air, and grows dark and cold and heavy, and falls like grey snow in thick layers over the land. Then the world is all muffled and numb, and no one can hear each other or feel each other. Think how sad and lonely that must be."

"The English seem to think drinking wine is like committing adultery, something you do rarely and abroad."

"The song of the wind singer will set you free."

"That's where we have to go," said Kestrel, looking at the mountain. "Into the fire."

""I wish there were no more exams ever," said Kestrel. "I wish nothing bad happens to Kess," said Bowman. "I wish my darling children to be safe and happy for ever," said their mother. She always wished like that when she was worried. "I wish the wind singer would sing again," said their father."

"She slapped Kestrel's face. Without thinking twice, Kestrel slapped her back, as hard as she could. The young woman burst into tears. The servant saw this, aghast. "Baby!" she exclaimed. "Oh, my poor baby!" "You've been kind to me," said Kestrel, "and you're very beautiful, but if you hit me again I'll kill you.""

"Brothers, what we do in life, echoes in eternity."

"I will win the crowd. I will give them something they have never seen before."

"Today begins my walk with you." They spoke together, their voices sounding softly in the cold air. "Where you go, I go. Where you stay, I stay. When you sleep, I will sleep. When you rise, I will rise. I will pass my days within the sound of your voice, and my nights within the reach of your hand. And none shall come between us."

"She hasnt gone so far now, she had broken a lot of rules and said such rude things, that she knew she would suffer the most horrible punishment; and since what was done could not be undone, she was free to be as bad as she wanted to be."

"We read to know that we are not alone."

"Experience is a brutal teacher, but you learn fast."

"Self-sufficiency is the enemy of salvation. If you are self-sufficient, you have no need of God. If you have no need of God, you do not seek Him. If you do not seek Him, you will not find Him."

"If everything you do is in order to do something else, when do you ever get to the end of it all?"

"[To Jimmy Edwards] Don't forget we are talking to rebels."

"Ten years ago I would have been dumbstruck by the attitude of Equity. Nowadays, however, we appear to be conditioned to the erosion of our liberties, and seem to have lost the will to fight for what we believe is right, and not for what is fashionable. Actions like that of Equity can only inflame the situation, whereas art should break down barriers, not help create them. I have been uplifted by the spirit of the people, Black and white. Not all Rhodesians agree with [prime minister] Ian Smith, but I have a feeling most people respect him."

"My theory is that we are all idiots. The people who don’t think they’re idiots — they’re the ones that are dangerous."

"If you understand comedy, you understand life. Drama, death, tragedy – everybody has these. But with humour you've got all these, and the antidote. You have found the answer. It doesn't follow that because you are a good comedy writer, you're a happy fellow. I've got one of the most miserable faces in the world. I am only happy when I am working. If I'm not working, I get screwed up because my time is going, my life is slipping by."

"I always say to young people, you can have the best script, be the funniest man, but if they don't laugh — you're not a comedian."

"The trouble is, Richard, that you always think you can alter people. You say, Oh, yes, he's a little weak and I can't stand the way he hums to himself when he's shaving but when we live together I'll change that, we'll grow together, but you never do. All that happens is that the little things are symptomatic of bigger things and they become more and more important."

"I really am interested but I find it hard to make the proper helpful noises. I'm terrible inadequate when it comes to sympathy. I feel things but I can't express them in words."

"Everyone was mad only some of them didn't know it."

"Men are always far more shocked by the vulgarities of women then women are by the vulgarities of men. It is one of the few monopolies which men consider should be theirs after the emancipation of women."

"The moneylender and his wife," he said indifferently, jerking his head over his shoulder. "It is always the same in any revolution. The moneylenders are always the first to go."

"Every day, thought Stone, is a revelation. At night it seems that you will never see it again, that it has been lost in the darkness. But with the sun, you hold your breath and look, and there it is. Just as it was; as you could never quite remember it."

"She watched the lights upon the shore. The glare that was Plymouth in the distance. She thought, the dance is over. The girls are going out of the overheated hall into the cold air. They shiver; their young men hurry after them. Some have got home and find their dresses stained or torn; yet they've enjoyed themselves. Which is the more important? Wallflowers think of the young men who haven't danced with them; probably each has a dream-day hero. Remember the lieutenant to whom I never spoke a word; yet I married him and had children and grandchildren, though he never knew it. And there are others, madly happy, look in their mirrors and smile and wonder. Even the latest home has a warm bed to go to."