California Transit: Stories Book

I love Munro. His skill with the eminently quotable epigrams and pearls of wisdom effortlessly embedded in his stories makes me surprised that he seems to receive less attention for them than Oscar Wilde does for his. In this book, some of my favourites included:

"Trouble is not one of those fancies you can take up and drop at any moment; it's like a grouse-moor or the opium-habit--once you start it you've got to keep it up."

"To my mind, education is an absurdly over-rated affair. At least, one never took it very seriously at school, where everything was done to bring it prominently under one's notice. Anything that is worth knowing one practically teaches oneself, and the rest obtrudes itself sooner or later."

"Hors d'oeuvres have always a pathetic interest for me," said Reginald: "they remind me of one's childhood that one goes through, wondering what the next course is going to be like--and during the rest of the menu one wishes one had eaten more of the hors d'oeuvres."

"Children are given us to discourage our better emotions."

And as a bonus, I loved the description of a girl who wears "a frock that's made at home and repented at leisure".