I believe that the gods themselves are frightened of the world which they have fashioned. - Peter Ackroyd

He had the satisfied countenance of a man who has never succeeded in boring himself.

The smell of the library was always the same – the musty odour of old clothes mixed with the keener scent of unwashed bodies, creating what the chief librarian had once described as "the steam of the social soup".

London goes beyond any boundary or convention. It contains every wish or word ever spoken, every action or gesture ever made, every harsh or noble statement ever expressed. It is illimitable. It is Infinite London.