[My father and his friends] believed in equality for women without troubling to acquire the basic domestic skills which would have made that equality possible.

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.

Charm is often despised but I can never see why. No one has it who isn't capable of genuinely liking others, at least at the actual moment of meeting and speaking. Charm is always genuine; it may be superficial but it isn't false.

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

The world is changed not by the self-regarding, but by men and women prepared to make fools of themselves.

History, which interprets the past to understand the present and confront the future is the least rewarding discipline for a dying species.

[My father and his friends] believed in equality for women without troubling to acquire the basic domestic skills which would have made that equality possible.