Richard liked to say he picked things up for a song, which was odd, because he never sang. He never even whistled. He was not a musical person.

When we're young, we like happy endings. When we're a little older, we think happy endings are unrealistic and so we prefer bad but credible endings. When we're older still, we realize happy endings aren't so bad after all.

A fist is more than the sum of its fingers.

The fabric of democracy is always fragile everywhere because it depends on the will of citizens to protect it, and when they become scared, when it becomes dangerous for them to defend it, it can go very quickly.

All stories are about wolves. All worth repeating, that is. Anything else is sentimental drivel. ...Think about it. There's escaping from the wolves, fighting the wolves, capturing the wolves, taming the wolves. Being thrown to the wolves, or throwing others to the wolves so the wolves will eat them instead of you. Running with the wolf pack. Turning into a wolf. Best of all, turning into the head wolf. No other decent stories exist.

All you have to do, I tell myself, is keep your mouth shut and look stupid. It shouldn't be that hard.

'1984' is not a wonder tale. Not only could it happen, but it has happened, but under different names.