You don't get on by being original. You don't get on by being bright. You don't get on by being strong. You get on by being a subtle crook.

History is always changing behind us, and the past changes a little every time we retell it.

Much historical fiction that centers on real people has always been deficient in information, lacking in craft and empty in affect.

For historians, creative writers provide a kind of pornography.

It follows that if you are not a mother you are not a grandmother. Your life has become unpunctuated, whereas the lives of other women around you have these distinct phases.

I think if the monarchy were removed tomorrow, it wouldn't have a huge effect on the national mind-set.

Imagine the consequences of having the first woman prime minister who is the milk snatcher. [Margaret Thatcher] takes away the nourishment of the nation.