After a certain age - and for some of us that can be very young - there are no new people, beasts, dreams, faces, events: it has all happened before.

The automatic reaction of practically any young person is, at once, against authority. That, I think, began in the First World War because of the trenches, and the incompetence of the people on all fronts.

It can be considered a rule that the probable duration of an Empire may be prognosticated by the degree to which its rulers believe in their own propaganda.

It is quite easy to remark the absurdities and contradictions of a country's social system from outside its borders, but very difficult if one has been brought up in it.

A story is how we construct our experiences.

One certainty we all accept is the condition of being uncertain and insecure.

Africa gives you the knowledge that man is a small creature, among other creatures, in a large landscape.