It was one of those days you sometimes get latish in the autumn when the sun beams, the birds toot, and there is a bracing tang in the air that sends the blood beetling briskly through the veins.

Just another proof, of course, of what I often say - it takes all sorts to make a world.

I attribute my whole success in life to a rigid observance of the fundamental rule - Never have yourself tattooed with any woman's name, not even her initials.

From my earliest years I had always wanted to be a writer. It was not that I had any particular message for humanity. I am still plugging away and not the ghost of one so far, so it begins to look as though, unless I suddenly hit mid-season form in my eighties, humanity will remain a message short.

A man who has spent most of his adult life trying out a series of patent medicines is always an optimist.

His whole aspect was that of a man who has unexpectedly been struck by lightning.

It's curious how, when you're in love, you yearn to go about doing acts of kindness to everybody.