People say I must be cold–natured — sexless — on account of it. But I won’t have it! Some of the most passionately erotic poets have been the most se… - Thomas Hardy

Some of the most passionately erotic poets have been the most self-contained in their daily lives.

One thing he certainly was — sincere.

There were a few middle-aged and even elderly women in the train, their silver-wiry hair and wrinkled faces, scourged by time and trouble, having almost a grotesque, certainly a pathetic, appearance in such a jaunty situation. In a true view, perhaps, there was more to be gathered and told of each anxious and experienced one, to whom the years were drawing nigh when she should say, 'I have no pleasure in them', than of her juvenile comrades. But let the elder be passed over here for those under whose bodices the life throbbed quick and warm.

A novel is an impression, not an argument.