Had your forefathers, Wigglesworth, been as stupid as you are, the human race would never have succeeded in procreating itself.

Definition of a classic: a book everyone is assumed to have read and often thinks they have.

It [Cambridge] wasn't a holy grail in the sense that I'd never been to Cambridge. But then, when I did go, the contrast between Leeds, which was very black and sooty in those days, and Cambridge, which seemed like something out of a fairystory, in the grip of a hard frost, was just wonderful.

To begin with, it's true, she read with trepidation and some unease. The sheer endlessness of books outfaced her and she had no idea how to go on; there was no system to her reading, with one book leading to another, and often she had two or three on the go at the same time.

Those who have known the famous are publicly debriefed of their memories, knowing as their own dusk falls that they will only be remembered for remembering someone else.

History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with the bucket.

A book is a device to ignite the imagination.