Democracy has many enemies, and the terrorist is only one of them.

In the long term, it is desirable that the human race, faced with the prospect of extinction on Earth, should prepare an escape route for itself to another inhabitable planet.

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.

Every good historian is almost by definition a revisionist. He looks at the accepted view of a particular historic episode or period with a very critical eye.

John Major is what he is: a man from nowhere, going nowhere, heading for a well-merited obscurity as fast as his mediocre talents can carry him.

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.

As a child I found railroad stations exciting, mysterious, and even beautiful, as indeed they often were.