My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?

Don't you think a dream would feel shy if it were seen walking about in the waking world?

There might be things more terrible even than losing someone you love by death.

Friendship with the latter marked the breakdown of two old prejudices. At my first coming into the world I had been (implicitly) warned never to trust a Papist, and at my first coming into the English Faculty (explicitly) never to trust a philologist. Tolkien was both.

He'll be coming and going. One day you'll see him and another you won't.

Come and help to carry the tray down and we'll have breakfast. What a mercy I thought of bringing the breadknife.

All the habits of the patient, both mental and bodily, are still in our favour.