Pity is cruel. Pity destroys.

Human nature is not black and white but black and grey.

He was impregnably armored by his good intentions and his ignorance.

Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.

The great advantage of being a writer is that you can spy on people. You're there, listening to every word, but part of you is observing. Everything is useful to a writer, you see - every scrap, even the longest and most boring of luncheon parties.

There are times when a lover longs to be also a father and a brother: he is jealous of the years he hasn't shared.

He was like a child with haemophilia: every contact drew blood.