Writers, and particularly female writers, have to fight for the conditions they need to work.

Little Tamar, forget the long ago. We are here and we are now, and that is all. We are making a new start.

Time is the River on which the leaves of our thoughts are carried into oblivion.

Intelligence forbids tears.

What the feminists want of me is something they haven't examined because it comes from religion. They want me to bear witness.

All politicians are not the same. I've never felt that way. What is the same is that voters get very excited about new faces, like Clinton and Blair - and they have unrealistic expectations that the world will change overnight. A cynical old hand like myself knows that it won't.

It is the mark of great people to treat trifles as trifles and important matters as important.