You think you know everything about a person, but the truth often comes as a surprise.

For me Oliver Twist is a political novel. It is a furious critique of the treatment of orphans and poor children who were forced to spend their early lives in ghastly institutions.

We used to send whole flocks of birds shooting out of our mouths and never managed to grab them by their wings.

Although I never marched through the streets shouting for Mao, I do believe that the liberation of China at the end of the 1940s was a wonderful thing and to provide its people with a billion pairs of shoes and trousers was a fantastic achievement.

Dreams can be of value even if you don’t have an opportunity to turn them into reality.

I remembered her once saying that life was like your shoes. You couldn't simply expect or imagine that your shoes would fit perfectly. Shoes that pinched your feet were a fact of life.

The evil always comes from details.