If I am feeling broken, I can pick up one of [Ivy Compton-Burnett] books and the next morning I can write again. It puts my mechanism back.

I think psychologically [Margaret Thatcher] is really worth studying. I am reading Charles Moore's biography of her, and he has gotten us right there with a woman who lived the unexamined life, and lived it deliberately, and who has contempt for history, even her own.

The worship of Thomas More goes beyond Catholics.

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

When you are writing laws you are testing words to find their utmost power. Like spells, they have to make things happen in the real world, and like spells, they only work if people believe in them.

I've got so many ideas, and sometimes the more exhausted my body gets, the more active my mind gets.

Feminism hasn't failed, it's just never been tried.