It should not be Illiers-Combray that we visit: a genuine homage to Proust would be to look at our world through his eyes, not look at his world through our eyes.

In a secularising world, art has replaced religion as a touchstone of our reverence and devotion.

Objectively good spaces to work rarely end up being so; in their faultlessness, quiet and well-equipped studios have a habit of rendering the fear of failure overwhelming. Original thoughts are like shy animals. We sometimes have to look the other way - towards a busy street or terminal - before they run out of their burrows.

Though debts are condemned in the financial world, the world of friendship and love may perversely depend on well-managed debts.

Most of what makes a book 'good' is that we are reading it at the right moment for us.

Not being understood may be taken as a sign that there is much in one to understand.

We used to build temples, and museums are about as close as secular society dares to go in facing up to the idea that a good building can change your life (and a bad one ruin it).