Quotes from Ann Bridge

Mountains had taken the place of religion, had satisfied her religious sense, her need for adoration and worship as no service in any Cathedral, however sublime, had been able to do.

What is freedom? It consists in two things: to know each his own limitations and accept them – that is the same thing as to know oneself, and accept oneself as one is, without fear, or envy, or distaste; and to recognise and accept the conditions under which one lives, also without fear or envy, or distaste. When you do this, you shall be free.

A conviction, unformulated but strong, rose to the working level of her mind - that painting did something more important for Nicholas than the mere gratifying of a whim; that this form of work and liberty of expression straightened out in him something that was tangled, set free in him something that, shut up, turned bad and poisoned him from below.

They were getting to know not only the details of each other's lives, but getting to know one another - a different thing. The process of getting to know anyone is not merely a matter of listening, watching, and understanding. M. Maurois has pointed out how, in any new relationship, we feel an unconscious need to create, as it were, a new picture, a new edition of ourselves to present to the fresh person who claims our interest; for them, we in a strange sense wish to, and do, start life anew.

She should remember what Flaubert said - 'Le génie, c'est travailler tous les jours!

It is surprising the amount of talk that two people will get through during a week of solid tête-à-tête. Now in modern life it is an extreme rarity, outside marriage, to get a week of uninterrupted companionship with any human being.

Better not think about Mrs Barum either; it was really such a strain going on being fair.

It all depended on what Walter decided. If - if he really did care about Rose Barum, she wouldn't stand in his way. It was so glaringly indecent to hold on to one's husband if he wanted someone else. The trouble was that she didn't know what Walter did want, and this was one of those questions you really couldn't ask.

Women in the early forties who have been wives and mothers for over twenty years are liable to suffer from a slight sense of guilt whenever they embark on any purely self-regarding activity; but Lady Kilmichael had better reasons than this for her desire to avoid the eyes of acquaintances on her journey. She was leaving her home, her husband and her family - possibly for good.

The full life depends, not on the range of experience but on the intensity of the interest, the emotion involved, and on its being a personal interest.

I do disapprove of the modern attitude that you can't do the simplest thing, like dying or being born, in your own house.

do get over the idea that size has any value or merit. It is the enemy of most of the best things in the world - it is the enemy of the good life.

we should be careful not to let machinery swamp life. That we should be sure, when we are confronted with a fresh mechanical contrivance, that we are not losing more than we gain by adopting it.

As soon as you start asking what education is for, what the use of it is, you're abandoning the basic assumption of any true culture, that education is worth while for its own sake.