My childhood in Corfu shaped my life. If I had the craft of Merlin, I would give every child the gift of my childhood.

Gradually the magic of the island [Corfu] settled over us as gently and clingingly as pollen.

I can't be expected to produce deathless prose in an atmosphere of gloom and eucalyptus.

Overflowing with the milk of human kindness, the family had invited everyone they could think of, including people they cordially disliked.

She would seize every opportunity to dive into the bathroom, in a swirl of white towels, and once in there she was as hard to dislodge as a limpet from a rock.

Stress isn't only a joy stealer. The way we respond to it can be sin.

I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out.

He had risked his freedom and his pride to buy her this, to acknowledge that part of her that everyone else seemed to want to get rid of.

Think not that you are thus maintaining the Gospel of Christ when you separate yourselves from the flock of Christ.

One has to get through a big pile of mail every day. I don't pass my letters on to a secretary; rather, I try to take care of all of them myself.

All the time travelling in the world can’t make someone love you.

After its hothouse incubation in the seventies, appropriation breathed important new life into art. This life flowered spectacularly over the decades - even if it's now close to aesthetic kudzu.

For me, the most interesting thing is longevity and sustaining a career, because that's what's truly difficult.

I'm glad I've learned what I've learned when I learned it.

I can see he's not in your good books,' said the messenger. 'No, and if he were I would burn my library.