My children are living, thinking human beings. It isn't in my power to regret them, for they belong to themselves.

Hope is like one of those orchids that grows around toxic waste: lovely in itself - and an assertion, if you like, of indefatigable good - but a sure sign that something nasty lies underneath.

As writers go, I have a skin of average thickness. I am pleased by a good review, disappointed by a bad. None of it penetrates far enough to influence the thing I write next.

That's writing for you: when you make space for passion, it doesn't turn up.

How can there be so many mothers in the world but so little sense of what it might be to become one?

The creativity of childhood was often surrendered amid feelings of unworthiness. So the idea that ­others are demanding to be given it back - to be "taught" - is disturbing.

Childhood, after all, is not an ending, but rather a state full of potent curiosity.

Even if they knew the truth of their own feelings, most mothers would be socially and emotionally incapable of revealing it.

Honest criticism, I suppose, has its place. But honest writing is infinitely more valuable.

Hope is one of those no-win-no-fee things, and although it needs some encouragement to survive, its existence doesn't necessarily prove anything.

People are least aware of others when demonstrating their own power over them.

That, my dear, is what makes a character interesting, their secrets.

Just remember to always be yourself and don’t be afraid to speak your mind or to dream out loud

Footballers are going on strike? When can they start?

I think a lot of comedians sometimes pretend to find the job more taxing than it is.

My life has been quite interesting professionally.

Health, power, riches, possessions and honor can be snatched from you, but your will is irrevocably your own.

We have to admit that there is an immeasurable distance between all that we read in the Bible and the practice of the Church and of Christians.

I have a huge rib cage, which is why I can hold a note out until I'm blue in the face... because I have such a big lung capacity.

To become an academic expert takes years of studying. Academic experts are experts in how and what others have done. They use case studies and observation to understand a subject.

You ride well, but you don't kiss nicely at all.