She did not understand what all that meant, but it was evidently something very near his heart, and so she said, "How splendid!" - Nevil Shute

All good designers are difficult men or they could not be good designers; I think everybody at the table was more or less aware of that. We set ourselves to mollify the great man, and I say that with sincerity. A great man he was, a great designer, and a superlative engineer. But not an easy man to deal with. No.

Success did not thrill him in the least. He regarded a success merely as a convenient platform from which to plan a further advance.

They sat by the lake for a couple of hours, talking, finding out about each other.