Godfrey's wife, Charmian, sat with her eyes closed, attempting to put her thoughts into alphabetical order, which Godfrey had told her was better than no order at all since she now had grasp of neither logic nor chronology

Art and religion first; then philosophy; lastly science. That is the order of the great subjects of life, that's their order of importance.

I used to think it a pity that her mother rather than she had not thought of birth control.

All my pupils are the creme de la creme. Give me a girl of an impressionable age, and she is mine for life.

Sandy felt warmly towards Miss Brodie at these times when she saw how she was misled in her idea of Rose. It was then that Miss Brodie looked beautiful and fragile, just as dark heavy Edinburgh itself could suddenly be changed into a floating city when the light was a special pearly white and fell upon one of the gracefully fashioned streets. In the same way Miss Brodie's masterful features became clear and sweet to Sandy when viewed in the curious light of the woman's folly, and she never felt more affection for her in her later years than when she thought upon Miss Brodie silly.

[...] there were other people's Edinburghs quite different from hers [...]