But what do you believe? I don't just mean religion. What are you sure of?" "That once I was not and that now I am. That one day I shall no longer be.

Feel, he told himself, feel, feel, feel. Even if what you feel is pain, only let yourself feel.

It's easy to get a reputation for wisdom. It's only necessary to live long, speak little and do less.

When I heard, Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, I thought, Did he fall or was he pushed?

Not so much two ships passing in the night as two ships sailing together for a time but always bound for different ports.

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.

A picnic may well be a metaphor for life. The essentials for happiness are the right company, moderate if sanguine expectations and a reasonable standard of physical sustenance and comfort, the whole being bedeviled by the belief that there is always something better to be had if only one presses on.