There would be more genuine rejoicing at the discovery of a complete new novel by Jane Austen than any other literary discovery, short of a new major play by Shakespeare.

World War II put feminism on hold for a long time; the men went away to fight, a lot of women in those years got jobs both in teaching and in factories - at all social levels - which they enjoyed very much. A lot of them were quite happy during the war.

Novels, since the birth of the genre, have been full of rejected, seduced, and abandoned maidens, whose proper fate is to die.

Sometimes it seems the only accomplishment my education ever bestowed on me was the ability to think in quotations.

London, how could one ever be tired of it?

I need words and print... I need print like an addict. I could live without it, perhaps. But I hope I never have to try.

I've always thought that very few people grow old as admirably as academics. At least books never let them down.