Punch MagazineThinkers

Idleness is like the nightmare in that the moment you begin to stir yourself you shake it off.

Innocence is like an umbrella: when once we've lost it we must never hope to see it back again.

A Mother-in-law is like the dry rot... far easier to get into a house than to get it out again.

Novel writing is not as easy as it looks. People in every walk of life think they can write novels, a delusion which seems to be especially prevalent among novelists.