The most evil person I ever met was a toss-up between Pablo Picasso and the publisher-crook Robert Maxwell.

If I see a door ajar, I push on it to see how far it will open, and if it opens wide I go through it.

Human beings are infinitely worth studying, especially the peculiarities that often go along with outstanding gifts.

In 1924 Mao took a Chinese friend, newly arrived from Europe, to see the notorious sign in the Shanghai park, 'Chinese and Dogs Not Allowed'.

In the past, the U.S. has shown its capacity to reinvent its gifts for leadership. During the 1970s, in the aftermath of the Nixon abdication and the Ford and Carter presidencies, the whole nation peered into the abyss, was horrified by what it saw and elected Ronald Reagan as president, which began a national resurgence.

I very much wanted to be editor of the 'New Statesman!' But I never wanted to be prime minister, except maybe as a little boy.

The writer learns to write, in the last resort, only by writing. He must get words onto paper even if he is dissatisfied with them.