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

Don't just plan to write - write. It is only by writing, not dreaming about it, that we develop our own style.

I thought of inviting you to my other club but you know how it is. Lunching there is a useful way of reminding people that you're still alive, but the members will come up and congratulate you on the fact.

In youth we take egregious risks because death has no reality for us. Youth goes caparisoned in immortality. It is only in middle age that we are shadowed by the awareness of the transitoriness of life.

I knew the facts of death before I knew the facts of life. There never was a time when I didn't see the skull beneath the skin.

We English are good at forgiving our enemies; it releases us from the obligation of liking our friends.

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