Helen Simonson

“There is nothing more corrosive to character than money.”

— Helen Simonson

“Compounding lack of funds with intelligence, she makes herself unmarriageable.”

— Helen Simonson

“There is often an inverse correlation between genius and personal hygiene.”

— Helen Simonson

“he had no doubt that spirited debate was the first casualty of any war. —”

— Helen Simonson

“Americans seemed to enjoy the sport of publicly humiliating one another.”

— Helen Simonson

“And after all, everyone needs a few flaws to make them real.”

— Helen Simonson

“It was an old story so rubbed with retelling that the edges were blurry.”

— Helen Simonson

You cannot run away from what’s in your heart.

— Helen Simonson

“The dawn chorus had still been chattering in the giant yew against the west wall of his cottage, the sky pink, when…

— Helen Simonson

“America wielded her huge power in the world with a brash confidence that reminded him of a toddler who has got hold…

— Helen Simonson

“do you really know what it means to be in love with an unsuitable woman?" "Is there any other kind?”

— Helen Simonson

The world is full of small ignorances. We must all do our best to ignore them and thereby keep them small, don't…

— Helen Simonson

“Men these days expect their wives to be as dazzling as their mistresses.” That's shocking," said the Major. "How on earth will…

— Helen Simonson

“You are not the first man to miss a woman's more subtle communication . . . They think they are waving when…

— Helen Simonson

“The human race is all the same when it comes to romantic relations,' said the Major. 'A startling absence of impulse control…

— Helen Simonson

“I am to be converted to the joys of knitting,' said Mrs. Ali, smiling at the Major. 'My condolences,' he said.”

— Helen Simonson

“He opened his mouth to say that she looked extremely beautiful and deserved armfuls of roses, but the words were lost in…

— Helen Simonson

“You are a wise man, Major, and I will consider your advice with great care—and humility." He finished his tea and rose…

— Helen Simonson

“Ah well, there you go. Young people are always demanding respect instead of trying to earn it. In my day, respect was…

— Helen Simonson

“he realized he had inspired a sense of trust and indebtedness that would make it entirely impossible for an honorable man to…

— Helen Simonson

“He cursed himself for having assumed the weather would be sunny. Perhaps it was the result of evolution, he thought--some adaptive gene…

— Helen Simonson

“It was frustratingly common that children were no sooner gone from the nest and established in their own homes ... than they…

— Helen Simonson

I later realized that this is my view of passion: It is rooted in genuine friendship. Chemistry may be two strangers exchanging…

— Helen Simonson

“At our age, surely there are better things to sustain us, to sustain a marriage, than the brief flame of passion?" ..."You…

— Helen Simonson

My neighbor Alice Pierce is fond of singing folk music to her garden plants. Thinks it makes them grow or something. The…

— Helen Simonson

“Oh, you're American,' said Mrs. Khan, holding out her hand. 'What a charming costume.' 'The Bengal Lancers were apparently a famous Anglo-Indian…

— Helen Simonson

“She looked at him and he read in her eyes a disappointment that he should have stooped to the dead relative excuse.…

— Helen Simonson

I know something of shame...How can we not all feel it? We are all small-minded people, creeping about the earth grubbing for…

— Helen Simonson

“Unlike you, who must do a cost-benefit analysis of every human interaction," he said, "I have no idea what I hope to…

— Helen Simonson

“He had never imagined so clearly the consequences of mailing a letter—the impossibility of retrieving it from the iron mouth of the…

— Helen Simonson

“It surprised him that his grief was sharper than in the past few days. He had forgotten that grief does not decline…

— Helen Simonson

“He opened the gun box, lifted out the sections of his own gun, for comparison. They slid together with well-oiled clicks. Laying…

— Helen Simonson

“I do not think you would be so quick to approve if it was your son," he said. The Major frowned as…

— Helen Simonson

“Men these days expect their wives to be as dazzling as their mistresses.”

— Helen Simonson

“He wondered whether it was his fault Roger had the perceptiveness of concrete.”

— Helen Simonson

“I fear I am as small-minded as the next woman. The trick is to know it,” she added.”

— Helen Simonson

Passion is all very well, but it wouldn't do to spill the tea.

— Helen Simonson

“We all pick and choose and make our religion our own, do we not?”

— Helen Simonson

“Compromises are often built on their being unspoken.”

— Helen Simonson

“...as I get older, I find myself insisting on my right to be philosophically sloppy.”

— Helen Simonson