Other people's children, like other people's love affairs, were so much less interesting than one's own.

The author portrays himself in every line he writes and portrayal is always betrayal.

the true and the plausible are rarely the same.

At twenty your choices are almost unlimited. At fifty you're a prisoner of past decisions. At seventy you have no free will left at all.

the old ploy of the powerful: never refuse when you can confuse. Distraction and delay are always better than obstruction.

Wouldn't it be kinder to say that a lie is a short work of fiction? 'A story' as my daughter says?

Privacy is like sleep - something you don't appreciate until you have to go without it.