I was sent to a finishing school, which didn't last long when mother found out how badly chaperoned we were. Then I 'came out' before going to a domestic science school.

They may turn out to be a great disappointment, or perhaps they may be full of enchanting surprises.

That image of the countryside being a threatening place still exists. People continue to resist the challenge of learning about aspects of life they don't understand.

Twenty years ago, I was living in a lovely cottage on the edge of Dartmoor but I couldn't afford to run a car.

Unimaginative people are spared quite a lot. They're often much happier, because they don't go through all the variety of conceptions of the person they love.

I always read that men don't like intelligent girls, but I've always found the reverse.

People try much less hard to make a marriage work than they used to fifty years ago. Divorce is easier.

Rebecca is an example of how not to manage men. The rules of the game never change, it requires subtlety.

Unimaginative people are spared quite a lot.

I have a garden, and I'm passionately interested in young people.

My father was a soldier and my mother was a great mover. She once counted up how many places she had lived in during the first 25 years of her marriage and it came to 20.

Fear makes people do cruel things, things they'll be ashamed of later

You cannot reform your society or institution without opening your mind.

He was the keynote speaker for our better angels.

I have no idea how much money I've got.

Life is what you make it.

Writers are damned liars. Every single one of them.

That's how it goes, my friend. The problem is not falling a captive, it's how to avoid surrender.

We have to build a better man before we can build a better society.

Beauty lasts five minutes. Maybe longer if you have a good plastic surgeon.

All I do is work, that's all my life is work.