Whatever Scotland was, it was not a matriarchy; whereas the United States was a profoundly matriarchal society - and much more feminine than would be suggested by all that male bravado. That was a front, and a misleading one at that; underneath the male swagger lay a passive acceptance of female dominance - a fact not always appreciated by outsiders.

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.

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

Everything has been something before.

The telling of a story, like virtually everything in this life, was always made all the easier by a cup of tea.

One of the most destructive things that's happening in modern society is that we are losing our sense of the bonds that bind people together - which can lead to nightmares of social collapse.

When you allow people to do what they wish, then that is what they do. They stop doing the things they need to do.