Authors, she soon decided, were probably best met within the pages of their novels, and were as much creatures of the reader's imagination as the characters in their books. Nor did they seem to think one had done them a kindness by reading their writings. Rather they had done one the kindness by writing them.

If, for instance, we'd made the film after the show had been to Broadway, it would have been exactly the same film but we would have been assured that they would have understood it. We didn't have to do any alterations for Broadway. I was supposed to go a fortnight before it opened to alter anything that was necessary and there was nothing really.

I'm all in favour of free expression provided it's kept rigidly under control.

I can walk. It's just that I'm so rich I don't need to.

Books are not about passing the time. They're about other lives. Other worlds.

Nature played a cruel trick on her by giving her a waxed mustache.

Sometimes there is no next time, no time-outs, no second chances. Sometimes it’s now or never.