There are few couples as unhappy as those who are too proud to admit their unhappiness.

Metaphysical speculation is about as pointless as a discussion on the meaning of one's lungs. They're for breathing.

There is no point in regretting any part of the past. The past can't now be altered, the future has yet to be lived, and consciously to experience every moment of the present is the only way to gain at least the illusion of immortality.

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

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

Of the four billion life forms which have existed on this planet, three billion, nine hundred and sixty million are now extinct. We don't know why. Some by wanton extinction, some through natural catastrophe, some destroyed by meteorites and asteroids. In the light of these mass extinctions it really does seem unreasonable to suppose that Homo sapiens should be exempt. Our species will have been one of the shortest-lived of all, a mere blink, you may say, in the eye of time.

It is always easy to question the judgement of others in matters of which we may be imperfectly informed.