Quotes from Juliet Nicolson

That long-gone sense of innocence and trust now reminded her of the feeling she now had when about to put on a new dress, or when given a box of chocolates sealed up in its wrapper. Everything was lovely in the anticipation. There must have been a time, she thought wistfully, when disappointment was an undiscovered emotion.

Silence can bring with it a vacancy that in its turn craves the distraction of the human voice or the obscuring impact created...by music. These distractions can help to stifle the terror of being abandoned to the silence of the noisy mind.

The following morning as the waxy bodies of seven former ministers were carried out horizontally through the back door of Madame Tussauds, the most obvious casualty was Macmillan's chief supporter Selwyn Lloyd. Unpopular with some for his 1962 Budget tax on children's sweets and ice cream, he had been a loyal Chancellor of the Exchequer and was shattered by his unexpected and ruthless dismissal.

Eddy, Vita's cousin. Even better, if Vita herself had been born

however hard you try to dissolve patriotism with the other ingredients of an emotional stew, it always floats to the top, just like grease finding its way to the surface of a meat broth.