"..."Oh! isn't it stupid, the war?-as if it was not good to be alive." He wanted to say: "You can't tell how good it is to be alive till you're facin… - John Galsworthy

Looking back on the long-stretched-out body of one's work, it is interesting to mark the endless duel fought within a man between the emotional and critical sides of his nature, first one, then the other, getting the upper hand, and too seldom fusing till the result has the mellowness of full achievement. One can even tell the nature of one's readers, by their preference for the work which reveals more of this side than of that.

Swithin! And the fellow had gone and died, last November, at the age of seventy-nine, renewing the doubt whether Forsytes could live for ever, which had first arisen when Aunt Ann passed away.

«Qual è la vostra ricetta per conservare la giovinezza, Irene?»
«Quando non si vive ci si conserva meravigliosamente».