If you even think about asking Harry Potter for an autograph, your day ends right now.

I've got six months to sort out the hackers, get the Japanese knotweed under control and find an acceptable form of narcissus.

Literature is claimed to be a mirror of the world,” I said, “but the Outlanders are fooling themselves. The BookWorld is as orderly as people in the RealWorld *hope* their own world to be—it isn’t a mirror, it’s an aspiration.

Aspects that we consider normal today could very well be repugnant in the future - eating animals, for one thing, or abundant choice, or invasive surgery. I was simply trying to demonstrate that what is acceptable today may not be acceptable forever, and vice-versa.

A good butler should save his employer's life at least once a day.

Death and the end of one's life are two very different things indeed.

Without a yardstick sometimes the high points can be taken for granted.