There are two options for any society: total prohibition as in a totalitarian state, or total license. Both avoid the ardours of decision. Both have the attraction of certainty. The difficult option is to decide where the line should be drawn and this, surely, is the responsiblity of any civilized and democratic country.

gossip ... was like any other commodity in the marketplace. You received it only if you had something of value to give.

Read widely and with discrimination. Bad writing is contagious.

There are two options for any society: total prohibition as in a totalitarian state, or total license. Both avoid the ardours of decision. Both have the attraction of certainty. The difficult option is to decide where the line should be drawn and this, surely, is the responsiblity of any civilized and democratic country.

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.

People were excited by violence. What, after all, was the sexual act but a voluntarily endured assault, a momentary death?

There comes a time when every scientist, even God, has to write off an experiment.