It’s very difficult to feel contempt for others when you see yourself in the mirror.

I believe the US is a truly monstrous force in the world, now off the leash for obvious reasons.

The Companion of Honour I regarded as an award from the country for 50 years of work - which I thought was okay.

I think it is the responsibility of a citizen of any country to say what he thinks.

Occasionally it does hit me, the words on a page. And I still love doing that, as I have for the last 60 years.

I don't intend to simply go away and write my plays and be a good boy. I intend to remain an independent and political intelligence in my own right.

I found the offer of a knighthood something that I couldn't possibly accept. I found it to be somehow squalid, a knighthood. There's a relationship to government about knights.