When I began to read as an adult, my first big enthusiasm was Evelyn Waugh. I read almost exclusively novelists of a generation back. I did the Russians, then I started getting more up to date.

I am not a historian. I don't see what I do as being a rival to biography.

There is so much else in the world that is more interesting [ than monarchy].

One of the ideals [Margaret Thatcher] grew up with was self-denial and postponement of gratification, and yet she went about to create a greedy, short-term society. It is a paradox.

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

[Margaret Thatcher] is a woman who, when she wrote her entry for "Who's Who," didn't include her mother. Now whether that was corrected in subsequent editions, I do not know.

Memory isn't a theme; it's part of the human condition.