Japanese food makes me feel particularly good.

Once any tyranny becomes accepted as ordinary, its victory is assured.

I have always unswervingly held, that God, in our civilizing world, manifests Himself not in the miracles of biblical age, but in progress. It is progress that leads humanity up the ladder towards the God-head. No Jacob's ladder this, no, but rather Civilization's Ladder, if you will.

Mother used to say escape is never further than the nearest book. Well, Mumsy, no, not really. Your beloved large-print sagas of rags, riches, and heartbreak were no camouflage against the miseries trained on you by the tennis ball launcher of life, were they? But, yes, Mum, there again, you have a point. Books don’t offer real escape, but they can stop a mind scratching itself raw.

An idler and a sluggard are as different as a gourmand and a glutton.

The truth of a myth...is not in its words but its patterns.

If you’re in your life, chance. Viewed from the outside, like a book you’re reading, it’s fate all the way.