Port is not for the very young, the vain and the active. It is the comfort of age and the companion of the scholar and the philosopher

I am annoyed to find myself continually described by people whom I have never set eyes on as bad-tempered.

Most writers in the course of their careers become thick-skinned and learn to accept vituperation, which in any other profession would be unimaginably offensive, as a healthy counterpoise to unintelligent praise.

An artist must be a reactionary. He has to stand out against the tenor [group think] of the age and not go flopping along. By doing this he helps us to question and reassess our past, present and future situations, our assumptions and our options.

It doesn't matter what people call you unless they call you pigeon pie and eat you up.

They are a very decent generous lot of people out here and they don't expect you to listen.... It's the secret of social ease in this country. They talk entirely for their own pleasure. Nothing they say is designed to be heard.

Words should be an intense pleasure just as leather should be to a shoemaker.