“Even in childhood's innocence of pleasure
Lives that destroying spirit which in time
Will waste, then want, the best of happiness.”

“Childhood may have periods of great happiness, but it also has times that must simply be endured. Childhood at its best is a form of slavery tempered by affection.”

“Time is given us to be happy and for no other reason […] When we waste time, we waste happiness.”

“I don't want to repeat my innocence. I want the pleasure of losing it again.”

“If our definition of happiness is "experiencing that which is pleasurable," we are going to be disappointed a lot of the time.”

“No one is safe from nature's savagery, not even the innocent. Only beauty is consistent.
Gabrielle envisions a time when the Savage Garden will overtake civilizations and destroy it.”

“Throughout our lives, we see in the mirror the same innocent trusting face we have seen there since childhood.”

“The best way to fill time is to waste it.”

“Wasting one's time is one way of occupying it, not wasting time is also another way of occupying it, and not to mind going on wasting time even knowing that it is a waste of time is also another way of occupying it. … I have well understood life, and therefore I can do what I naturally want to do. To do what I naturally want to do is also a way of occupying time.”

“The British do not expect happiness. I had the impression, all the time that I lived there, that they do not want to be happy; they want to be right.”