A man who aspires to rise above the mediocre, to be something more than the ordinary, surely deserves admiration, even if he fails and loses a fortune on account of his ambitions (...) if one has failed only where others have not had the courage or will to try, there is consolation - indeed, deep satisfaction - to be gained from his observation when looking back over one's life. #Page no.134

All you decent, well-meaning gentlemen, let me ask you, have you any idea what sort of place the world is becoming all around you? The days when you could act out of your noble instincts are over. Except of course, you here in Europe don't yet seem to know it.

Even at the time, I realised this couldn't be right, that this interpretation didn't fit with the rest of the lyrics. But that wasn't an issue with me. The song was about what I said, and I used to listen to it again and again, on my own, whenever I got the chance.

It was like there was some parallel universe we all vanished off to where we had all this sex.

It had never occurred to me that our lives, which had been so closely interwoven, could unravel with such speed.

The evening's the best part of the day. You've done your day's work. Now you can put your feet up and enjoy it.

Every country should have a strong literary tradition of its own at the center, but it should also have an interest in other countries.