There was a distinction between lying and telling half-truths, but it was a very narrow one.

Edinburgh used to be a haughty city.

But we make such mistakes all the time, all through our lives. Wisdom, I suppose, is seeing this and acting upon it before it is too late. But it is often too late, isn't it? - and those things that we should have said are unsaid, and remain unsaid for ever.

If your ceiling should fall down, then you have lost a room, but gained a courtyard. Think of it that way.

It's through the small things that we develop our moral imagination, so that we can understand the sufferings of others.

That my philosophy of life is, as far as possible, one of enjoyment. I'm not nihilistic.

Writers obviously have to bear witness to the harsh face of the age.