The Various Flavours Of Coffee

to compare the floral bouquet of a Yemeni mocca with ‘the rose-petal vapours of a maiden’s breath’. ‘There is no such aroma, Robert. You only wish it to be so,’

How easy it was to confuse attention with affection!

Give a heathen charity and he remains a heathen, and the charity is soon gone; but only give him a contract of employment and you have pointed him on the road towards eternal life -’

In the end, it is the stories we tell ourselves which are the dangerous ones, the ones that kill us or save us

It is a curious thing with whores that one pays a premium for inexperience and lack of ability - surely the only profession in which this is the case.

he was a type of man for whom love was indistinguishable from his own interests.

‘I am no longer seeking your agreement. I am overruling you. This is my decision, and as your husband I expect you to abide by

the Arabs - they’re the fascinating ones: you never know where you are with them. Their judgement is always being clouded by something: religion, or vanity, or pride.’

They knew that the real prize was to get me to pay for love.