Movie acting, I later realized, reminds me of contract bridge. Each requires the same concentration, intense short-term memory, and obliviousness to everything else until the last trump is called - or whatever it is they do.

Think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. Either the host dies, or the virus dies, or both die.

Ideally, the writer needs no audience other than the few who understand that it is immodest and greedy to want more.

In matters of faith, inconvenient evidence is always suppressed while contradictions go unnoticed.

CO₂ emissions anywhere threaten civilisation everywhere.

One of the most fascinating aspects of politician-watching is trying to determine to what extent any politician believes what he says.

Perfect love sometimes does not come until the first grandchild.