If she speaks, it will only be a pleasant word or two; should she have anything important to say, the moment will be after tea, not before it; this she knows by instinct. – George Gissing, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft, 1903 (of the housekeeper b

Find yourself a cup; the teapot is behind you. Now tell me about hundreds of things. – Saki (H.H. Munro), “Tea”