If these are indeed the spirits of Englishmen and Englishwomen who have passed over into the next world, surely they would know how to form a proper queue?

A pier is a disappointed bridge; yet stare at it for long enough and you can dream it to the other side of the Channel.

Books say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't. I'm not surprised some people prefer books.

The greatest patriotism is to tell your country when it is behaving dishonorably, foolishly, viciously.

The writer must be universal in sympathy and an outcast by nature: only then can he see clearly.

The land of embarrassment and breakfast.

When you read a great book, you don't escape from life, you plunge deeper into it.

History is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation.

What is the easiest, the most comfortable thing for a writer to do? To congratulate the society in which he lives: to admire its biceps, applaud its progress, tease it endearingly about its follies.

Some of the freckles I once loved are now closer to liver spots. But it’s still the eyes we look at, isn’t it? That’s where we found the other person, and find them still.

The more you learn, the less you fear. "Learn" not in the sense of academic study, but in the practical understanding of life.

One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.

We run when we're scared, we run when we're ecstatic, we run away from our problems and run around for a good time.

Everyone has a different beauty and different qualities and I think that women need to learn to love their qualities and be comfortable in the fact that everyone is different.

When I was in top 40 bands, I always had to learn new material and new styles.

All which is not prose is verse; and all which is not verse is prose.

If you simply cannot make the right decision, make a decision and then make it right.

I've never been able to contemplate failure. Success is everything.

Much of Indian science seems intuitive and not bound by the rigid thinking of classical scientists.

I don't even know what success is.

As the new endogenous growth theory suggests, TFP growth is closely related to accumulation of the intangible capitals, such as human capital and research and development.