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

[Margaret Thatcher] aroused such strong loathing in so many people. That's the fact that interests me.

Fortitude. ... It means fixity of purpose. It means endurance. It means having the strength to live with what constrains you.

It is all very well planning what you will do in six months, what you will do in a year, but it’s no good at all if you don’t have a plan for tomorrow.

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

I do myself think that history is a set of skills rather than a narrative.

When narratives fracture, when words fail, I take consolation from the part of my life that always works: the stationery order. The mail-order stationery people supply every need from royal blue Quink to a dazzling variety of portable hard drives.