Don't be too hard on the envious. Be glad you have, or had in the past, something enviable. — Susan Sontag

Watkins said no with the practiced brusque delivery of a man who's always been rather sparing with his yes.

And isn't it usually so, that lovers who share their daily lives with each other gradually find they need to put very little into words?

To love one's work is a way of loving oneself, and leaves one freer to love other people.

But beware the difference between loving one's work and being merely engrossed in it.