Nobody speaks the truth when there is something they must have.

One can live in the shadow of an idea without grasping it.

Silences have a climax, when you have got to speak.

When you love someone all your saved up wishes start coming out.

Jealousy is no more than feeling alone against smiling enemies.

Some people are molded by their admirations, others by their hostilities.

We are minor in everything but our passions.

Pity the selfishness of lovers: it is brief, a forlorn hope; it is impossible.

Fate is not an eagle, it creeps like a rat.

It is not helpful to help a friend by putting coins in his pockets when he has got holes in his pockets.

Disappointment tears the bearable film off life.

What is so addictive about fiction is that it is the one reliable place in which we can apprehend and participate in - fully understand - the inward world of another person.

There is no substitute for books in the life of a child.

When I think about myself, my thought seeks itself in the ether of a new space. I am on the moon as others are on their balconies. I participate in planetary gravitation in the fissures of my mind.

I think critics are very useful. But I think that they, in a way, betray their position when they stop people looking for themselves.

The only silver lining I can find is that British accents aren't sexy anymore.

Do things as soon as you can. If a decision needs to be made, make it. It gives you more time to change your mind.

Forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.

The guardian and arbiter of superlative eating, with every meal an unforgettable experience in pleasure, starting with the soup, which he said, 'must be the agent provocateur of a good dinner.'

Life is a good deal more comfortable if one doesn't expect it to be fair.

I think that the message I have of optimism and hope about Britain's bright future outside the European Union is shared by many Conservative members and voters - indeed by a majority of the country.