Insight cannot be taken back. You cannot return to the moment you were in before.

For many imaginative writers, working for the press is a fact of their life. But it's best not to like it too much.

No ruler in the history of the world has ever been able to afford a war. They're not affordable things. No prince ever says, 'This is my budget, so this is the kind of war I can have.

[H]ope takes you by the throat like a stranger, it makes your heart leap.

To a Brit of my generation, one of the most objectionable things about [Margaret] Thatcher is her falsity. She is a total construct. For one thing, she had a made-over accent.

He turns to the painting. "I fear Mark was right." "Who is Mark?" "A silly little boy who runs after George Boleyn. I once heard him say I looked like a murderer." Gregory says, "Did you not know?

I loved Gore Vidal's Burr. That book gave me courage.