Time and distance from the first and second world wars doesn't seem to lessen their horrors.
In the writing process, the more the story cooks, the better. The brain works for you even when you are at rest. I find dreams particularly useful. I myself think a great deal before I go to sleep and the details sometimes unfold in the dream.
A simple grateful thought turned heavenwards is the most perfect prayer.
As soon as I got the Nobel Prize my back collapsed and I was in hospital.
As you get older, you don't get wiser. You get irritable.
With a library you are free, not confined by temporary political climates. It is the most democratic of institutions because no one - but no one at all - can tell you what to read and when and how.