Florence and Milan had given him ideas more flexible than those of people who'd stayed at home.

I can't think of any male politician who magnetizes love and hate - mainly hate - the way [Margaret Thatcher] did.

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.

Those who are made can be unmade.

Though I have never thought of myself as a book collector, there are shelves in our house browsed so often, on so many rainy winter nights, that the contents have seeped into me as if by osmosis.

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.

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