The Diary Of A Nobody Quotes
"What’s the good of a home, if you are never in it? 'Home, Sweet Home,' that’s my motto."
"I never was so immensely tickled by anything I have ever said before."
"The ambition of my life would be to get him into Mr. Perkupp’s firm."
"I could do with a cup of tea, and didn’t want anything to eat."
"It is satisfactory to know he was asked to resign from the Bank simply because 'he took no interest in his work, and always arrived an hour (sometimes two hours) late.'"
"I felt the reply was too simple; but of course Mr. Perkupp knows best."
"I thought perhaps the dress was a little too long behind, and decidedly too short in front, but Mrs. James said it was à la mode."
"Do let the boy alone. He’s quite old enough to take care of himself, and won’t forget he’s a gentleman. Remember, you were young once yourself."
"I had a fit of the blues come on, and thought I would go to see Polly Presswell, England’s Particular Spark."
"We are of one mind, and think only of love and friendship."
"Those who have quarrelled with absent friends should kiss and make it up. Those who happily have not fallen out, can kiss all the same."
"But remember you threw down the glove, and I cannot claim to be either mentally or physically a coward!"
"Our lives run in different grooves. I live for MY ART—THE STAGE. Your life is devoted to commercial pursuits—‘A life among Ledgers.'"
"The only person who did not appear interested was the man Padge, who had got the best arm-chair, and was puffing away at a foul pipe into the fireplace."
"I wonder if Pitt, that impudent clerk at the office, did it? Or Mrs. Birrell, the charwoman, or Burwin-Fosselton? The writing is too good for the former."
"Lupin said: 'Oh, it’s all right! I’m engaged to be married!'"
"I never do in a strange bed. I feel a little indigestion, which one must expect at this time of the year."
"I have long since given up trying to understand Lupin's slang, or asking him to explain it."
"A most terrible fog came on, and Lupin would go out in it, but promised to be back to drink out the Old Year—a custom we have always observed."
"I did not desire the last day to wind up disagreeably, so I said nothing to either Carrie or Lupin about the letter."
"I had intended concluding my diary last week; but a most important event has happened."
"I must confess that my heart commenced to beat and I had most serious misgivings."
"My breath seemed to come back again in an instant."
"My great dream of the last few weeks—in fact, of many years—has been realised."
"I thought the remarks were rude without being funny."
"I gave the cabman five shillings, who only grumbled, saying it was dirt cheap at half a sovereign."
"I have just remembered that, by my advice, Mr. Murray Posh has invested £600 in Parachikka Chlorates!"
"I need hardly say we had great difficulty in getting a cabman to take us to Holloway."
"I was not only too worried, but I cannot and will not eat cushion of bacon."
"I felt there was no more enjoyment for me that evening."
"I thought it was Sunday, and Mr. Short was perhaps very particular."
"I am getting quite accustomed to being snubbed by Lupin, and I do not mind being sat upon by Carrie, because I think she has a certain amount of right to do so; but I do think it hard to be at once snubbed by wife, son, and both my guests."
"Before I could reply, Gowing said there was nothing so completely uninteresting as other people’s dreams."
"The happy medium is nothing more or less than a vulgar half-measure. A man who loves champagne and, finding a pint too little, fears to face a whole bottle and has recourse to an imperial pint, will never build a Brooklyn Bridge or an Eiffel Tower. No, he is half-hearted, he is a half-measure—respectable—in fact, a happy medium, and will spend the rest of his days in a suburban villa with a stucco-column portico, resembling a four-post bedstead."
"I always feel people are happier who live a simple unsophisticated life. I believe I am happy because I am not ambitious."
"What am I to do? Here is a letter that I dare not show to Mr. Perkupp, and would not show to Lupin for anything."
"Your son will bring his punishment upon himself."
"Lupin, like Mr. Huttle, has original and sometimes wonderful ideas; but it is those ideas that are so dangerous. They make men extremely rich or extremely poor. They make or break men."
"I am very sorry Mrs. James, but I totally disapprove of it, apart from the fact that I receive my old friends on this evening."
"This is the last of this nonsense that shall ever take place under my roof. I regret I permitted myself to be a party to such tomfoolery. If there is anything in it—which I doubt—it is nothing of any good, and I won't have it again. That is enough."
"My faithful servant, I will not dwell on the important service you have done our firm. You can never be sufficiently thanked. Let us change the subject. Do you like your house, and are you happy where you are?"