Eric Linklater

"Londons a dull town," said Magnus, ... "Its easy to live in," he said, "but the airs flat and stale and the people half-hearted. Theres nothing to do there. You can make love without trouble or meaning, or get mildly drunk, or extract second-hand emotions from the cinema, or put your mind to sleep on a dance-floor, or play bridge, or throw yourself in front of a train on the Underground. There are forty ways of escaping from consciousness. But I want something more exciting than that."

"There won’t be any revolution in America," said Isadore. Nikitin agreed. "The people are all too clean. They spend all their time changing their shirts and washing themselves. You can’t feel fierce and revolutionary in a bathroom."

"I find it difficult to recognize people. Human beings are so much alike."