Ralph Stock

“ He had learnt something of Island custom in the last six months and knew that if a man did this, it meant that he would return. "What a liar I am," he added guiltily.
"Samoce, Samoce!" he called over the water as the schooner headed for the channel in the barrier reef, then turned abruptly from the rail and lit a cigar. ”

“ Then again: "A year's sound coaching for the whole team and they'd give the average county club a run for its money." Or: "I can just see Miatu with a resident's bungalow on Beritania Hill; white, of course, with an avenue of coral and pandanus. They've got the secret, Clem; there's no getting away from that."
"Secret of what?" I demanded brusquely. It is a dangerous sign when a healthy, normal young man begins to talk about houses on hills with pandanus avenues.
"Life," said Fenner. ”

“ But, yes, I admit she may want me—for Parliament or some equally futile career, so that she can hear people say of her son: 'He's getting on,' or 'He's a coming man.' Getting on—toward what?"
"Work of some kind is necessary for every man." I remembered that very distinctly. It had sounded well—in the drawing room at Craigmoor.
"It all depends what you call work. A lover of birds is 'working' when he studies their habits. A botanist—a naturalist——"
"Work is doing something that one doesn't particularly care about," I ventured. ”