A diplomat these days is nothing but a head waiter who's allowed to sit down occasionally.

American democracy is the inalienable right to sit on your front porch, in your pyjamas, drinking a can of beer and shouting out 'Where else is this possible?' Which doesn't seem to me to be freedom, really.

I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me the most civilised music in the world.

Laughter... the most civilized music in the world.

Marriage is like a three-speed gearbox - affection, friendship, love. It is not advisable to crash your gears and go right through to love straightaway. You need to ease your way through. The basis of love is respect, and that needs to be learned from affection and friendship.

This is a free country, madam. We have a right to share your privacy in a public place.

I hate being moved. I hate that man who came in. So self-righteous, so cruel. He made fun of me, that's why I cried. You never did that. You led me into temptation by your - politeness.