I do not know why I have such a fancy for this little café. It's dirty and sad, sad. It's not as if it had anything to distinguish it from a hundred others—it hasn't; or as if the same strange types came here every day, whom one could watch from one's corner and recognize and more or less (with a strong accent on the less) get the hang of. But pray don't imagine that those brackets are a confession of my humility before the mystery of the human soul. Not at all; I don't believe in the human soul. I never have. I believe that people are like portmanteaux—packed with certain things, started going, thrown about, tossed away, dumped down, lost and found, half emptied suddenly, or squeezed fatter than ever, until finally the Ultimate Porter swings them on to the Ultimate Train and away they rattle. . Katherine Mansfield
About This Quote

When Agatha Christie, the famous mystery novelist died in 1976, she bequeathed her entire estate to the people of Great Britain. She set aside a little money for herself, because she claimed she was immortal. Her bequest totaled £1.50,000,000 (about $200 million), which I think is a pretty paltry sum for an immortal. Christie also left behind her own autobiography.

In this autobiography, she wrote: "I do not know why I have such a fancy for this little café. It's dirty and sad, sad. It's not as if it had anything to distinguish it from a hundred others–it hasn't; or as if the same strange types came here every day, whom one could watch from one's corner and recognize and more or less (with a strong accent on the less) get the hang of." She concluded her autobiography with some words that sum up her entire philosophy of life: "But pray don't imagine that those brackets are a confession of my humility before the mystery of the human soul.

Not at all; I don't believe in the human soul. I never have. I believe that people are like portmanteaux–packed with certain things, started going, thrown about, tossed away, dumped down, lost and found, half emptied suddenly, or squeezed fatter than ever, until finally the Ultimate Porter swings them on to the Ultimate Train and away they rattle."

Source: Je Ne Parle Pas FranaAis

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More Quotes By Katherine Mansfield
  1. Risk anything! Care no more for the opinion of others. .. Do the hardest thing on earth for you. Act for yourself. Face the truth."( Journal entry, 14 October 1922)
  2. A big bee, a golden furry fellow, crept into a freesia, and the delicate flower leaned over, swung, shook; and when the bee flew away it fluttered still as though it were laughing. Happy, careless flower!
  3. Isn't life, ' she stammered, 'isn't life--' But what life was she couldn't explain. No matter. He quite understood.' Isn't it, darling?' said Laurie.
  4. I can never be perfectly certain whether Helen was got with child by Leonard Bast or by his fatal forgotten umbrella. All things considered, I think it must have been the umbrella.
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