Rules of Civility

by Amor Towles

It was as if America launched the Depression just to teach Manhattan a lesson.

Overhead the fire escapes crawled up the sides of the buildings like spiders.

Slurring is the cursive of speech, I observed.

An interesting observation

—That’s a Grand Canyon of a tale, she said. A mile deep and two miles wide.

110th Labour to keep alive in your Breast that Little Spark of Celestial fire Called Conscience.

Our first president gave some worthwhile advice.

But I think there is another reason they please—a reason that is at least as important, if not more so—and that is that in Agatha Christie’s universe everyone eventually gets what they deserve.

—Sex is the cheapest form of entertainment. —Not in this house.

if the next thing you’re going to say makes you feel better, then it’s probably the wrong thing to say.

A Room of One’s Own.

it was still a view that practically conjugated hope: I have hoped; I am hoping; I will hope.