Now and then I become conscious of having the reputation of being one of the great drinkers, if not one of the great drunks, of our time.

A German wine label is one of the things life's too short for, a daunting testimony to that peculiar nation's love of detail and organization.

Your attitude measures up to the two requirements of love. You want to go to bed with her and can't, and you don't know her very well. Ignorance of the other person topped up with deprivation, Jim. You fit the formula all right, and what's more you want to go on fitting it.

Nice things are nicer than nasty ones.

When starting to think about any novel, part of the motive is: I'm going to show them, this time.

Self criticism must be my guide to action, and the first rule for its employment is that in itself it is not a virtue, only a procedure.

We should be wrong to demand that a critic must stay on the point all the time; it is enough if he remains in orbit around it.