Celeste

“really enjoyed going out so long as it was not too often, she did not have to stay up too late, and she was allowed to look on peacefully without feeling obliged to make any conversational effort. Strangers bored and fatigued her. She only liked the company of those people with whom she had day-to-day interests in common,”
― Nancy Mitford, Love in a Cold Climate

“The latest they’re allowed to get home after a school party is a lot earlier than it is with boys. Between school and home lies a warren of darkened cycle paths.”
― Herman Koch, Summer House with Swimming Pool

“Is there anything more vain than an autobiography?”
― Isabel Allende, Inés of My Soul

“As a technology, the book is like a hammer. That is to say, it is perfect: a tool ideally suited to its task. Hammers can be tweaked and varied but will never go obsolete. Even when builders pound nails by the thousand with pneumatic nail guns, every household needs a hammer. Likewise, the bicycle is alive and well. It was invented in a world without automobiles, and for speed and range it was quickly surpassed by motorcycles and all kinds of powered scooters. But there is nothing quaint about bicycles. They outsell cars.”
― James Gleick