Perhaps the world progresses not by maturing, but by being in a permanent state of adolescence, of thrilled discovery.

Mystification is simple; clarity is the hardest thing of all.

Every love story is a potential grief story.

That's one of the central problems of history, isn't it, sir? The question of subjective versus objective interpretation, the fact that we need to know the history of the historian in order to understand the version that is being put in front of us.

In Britain I'm sometimes regarded as a suspiciously Europeanized writer, who has this rather dubious French influence.

History isn't the lies of the victors, as I once glibly assured Old Joe Hunt; I know that now. It's more the memories of the survivors, most of whom are neither victorious or defeated.

A pier is a disappointed bridge; yet stare at it for long enough and you can dream it to the other side of the Channel.