Money's a very serious thing - especially when you haven't got any.

It is the man who is sure of himself who disregards the opinion of the world. To be sure is to have power.

Mary Stuart wrote, 'My end is in my beginning.' It is easier to agree with her than to decide what is the beginning, and what is the end.

One cannot withdraw from the life of the community. Injury to one member of it cannot fail to be the concern of all.

There is and always has been for me a peculiar need to write. This is very different from wanting to be a writer. To be a writer always seemed something so far removed from my talents and abilities and imaginings that it didn't afflict me at all as a notion when I was young. But I was always conscious that I wanted to write.

if you cannot get what you want, common sense suggests that you should put your mind to wanting what you can get.

When you've just made the most complete fool of yourself, you feel the need of a specially high horse to ride.