You never forget the people who were kind to you in childhood, do you, sir?

Generosity is a virtue for individuals, not governments. When governments are generous it is with other people’s money, other people’s safety, other people’s future.

For me, the dead remain dead. If I couldn't believe that, I don't think I could go on living.

Increase your word power. Words are the raw material of our craft. The greater your vocabulary the more ­effective your writing. We who write in English are fortunate to have the richest and most versatile language in the world. Respect it.

Write what you need to write, not what is currently popular or what you think will sell.

Love, always love. Perhaps that’s what we’re all looking for.

Great literature cannot grow from a neglected or impoverished soil. Only if we actually tend or care will it transpire that every hundred years or so we might get a Middlemarch.