Those were the days in this country where H. G. Wells, Bernard Shaw and Conan Doyle could have influence, and thats gone, thats true. But I dont think we have less influence in the hearts and minds of readers. I think, if anything, we have just as much, if not more.

Grief seems at first to destroy not just all patterns, but also to destroy a belief that a pattern exists.

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.

Why should anything happen when everything has happened?

In an oppressive society the truth-telling nature of literature is of a different order, and sometimes valued more highly than other elements in a work of art.

What you end up remembering isn't always the same as what you have witnessed.

Yes, of course we were pretentious -- what else is youth for?