You're a big one,[...] a tall drink of water, but I got to tell you, you don't look too bright. I got a son, stupid as a man who bought his stupid at a two-for-one sale, and you remind me of him.

Children, as I have said, use back ways and hidden paths, while adults take roads and official paths.

London grew into something huge and contradictory. It was a good place, and a fine city, but there is a price to be paid for all good places, and a price that all good places have to pay.

Books smell and feel better. They have that wonderful thingness of turning the pages.

Be proud of your mistakes. Well, proud may not be exactly the right word, but respect them, treasure them, be kind to them, learn from them. And, more than that, and more important than that, make them. Make mistakes. Make great mistakes, make wonderful mistakes, make glorious mistakes. Better to make a hundred mistakes than to stare at a blank piece of paper too scared to do anything wrong.

If you read enough Lionel Fanthorpe, your brain starts to turn to jelly and just dribbles out of your ears.

I remember making that vow, the one not to forget. Not to remember what happened, but to remember who I was and how I felt.