“Sometimes in the company of others I find a disagreeable spirit of competitiveness kicks in and each person is shamed into spending rather more than he would have wished. This is a historically established syndrome, of course. One Magus going to Bethlehem would probably have sprung for a box of After Eights. Three Magi on the same trip found themselves laden with gold, frankincense and myrrh and bitterly comtemplating their overdrafts.”

“I also wish I'd been born with a clearly defined talent for something, or else stupid.”

“I was simultaneously elated and depressed, a common enough state of mind these days when people are offered a great deal of money to do something repugnant.”

“Sometimes in the company of others I find a disagreeable spirit of competitiveness kicks in and each person is shamed into spending rather more than he would have wished. This is a historically established syndrome, of course. One Magus going to Bethlehem would probably have sprung for a box of After Eights. Three Magi on the same trip found themselves laden with gold, frankincense and myrrh and bitterly comtemplating their overdrafts.”

“The chef who cooks without a song on his lips cannot hope to infuse the right carefree improvisatory note into his art.”

“Have you noticed how just trying to impose any sort of chronology on events makes it seem as though a lot of time has been occupied?”