What the detective story is about is not murder but the restoration of order.

Work did bestow dignity, status, meaning. Wasn't that why people dreaded unemployment, why some men found retirement so traumatic?

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

The modern holy trinity is money, sex and celebrity.

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.

If this were fiction, could even the most brilliant novelist contrive to make credible so short a period in which pride had been subdued and prejudice overcome?

Wars may be fought by decent men, but they're not won by them.