The idea of the sacred is quite simply one of the most conservative notions in any society, because it seeks to turn other ideas — uncertainty, progress, change — into crimes.

有些鸟是注定不会被关在笼子里，因为它们的每一片羽毛都闪耀着自由的光辉。

The whole of life is just like watching a film. Only it's as though you always get in ten minutes after the big picture has started, and no-one will tell you the plot, so you have to work it out all yourself from the clues.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all doing direct the other way.

The deepest love is often the most silent.

The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.