[Edinburgh] is a city of shifting light, of changing skies, of sudden vistas. A city so beautiful it breaks the heart again and again.

How many of us are happy to be exactly where we are at any moment?...only the completely happy think that they are in the correct place.

Any extreme political creed brought only darkness in the long run; it lit up nothing. The best politics were those of caution, tolerance and moderation, Angus maintained, but such politics were, alas, also very dull, and certainly moved nobody to poetry.

She was made for untidy rooms and rumpled beds.

I am often thanked by people for inventing the term traditionally built. The people who give me thanks for this are often traditionally built themselves.

There is plenty of work for love to do.

Any author of fiction will tell you that characters don't need to be told what to do.