I'm trying to be inspiring! I'm trying to lift your grubby soul for the great adventure that lies ahead of you!

Of course you should study whatever you want. The written appreciation and understanding of literature, or any kind of artistic endeavour, is absolutely central to a decent society. Why d'you think books are the first things that the fascists burn?

No, friends were like clothes: fine while they lasted but eventually they wore thin or you grew out of them.

Alice doesn't seem to mind because she's laughing too, and biting her lip, all doe-eyed, and tossing her freshly washed hair, and Norton tosses his lovely, glossy hair back, and she tosses her hair in return, and he tosses his, and she tosses hers, and it;s like some mating ritual on a wildlife program.

I work three days at home, and two days in the British Library or the London Library, just to get out of the house and hide from the children.

Failure and unhappiness is easier because you can make a joke out of it.

Everything was fine, and she had the rare, new sensation of being exactly where she wanted to be.