I think the virtue I prize above all others is curiosity. If you look really hard at almost anybody, and try to see why they're doing what they're doing, taking a dig at them ceases to be what you want to do even if you hate them.

Think of this - that the writer wrote alone, and the reader read alone, and they were alone with each other.

I watch a lot of sport on television. I only watch certain sports, and I only watch them live - I don't think I've ever been able to watch a replay of a match or game of which the result was already decided. I feel bound to cheat and look up what can be looked up.

I was no good at being a child.

Funny way to spend your life, though, studying another chap's versifying.

When I was a child - in wartime, pre-television - books were my life.

Never stop paying attention to things. Never make your mind up finally. Do not hold beliefs.