Power brings a man many luxuries, but a clean pair of hands is seldom among them.

Suicide leaves everyone feeling guilty.

Another of Cicero's maxims was that if you must do something unpopular, you might as well do it wholeheartedly, for in politics there is no credit to be won by timidity.

Cicero most reminds me of Harold Wilson. Both men knew how to keep the show on the road.

My greatest regret as a writer is that I've never been able to include as many jokes as I'd like.

If one first gives himself to the Lord, all other giving is easy.

First comes an idea. Then, characters begin to evolve out of the landscape of that idea. And then, finally, characters dominate: plot is simply a function of what these people might do or be. Everything has to flow from their personalities; otherwise it will not be emotionally engaging, or plausible.