Does a name stick because it suits a man or does the man, unconsciously, evolve into his name?

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.

That young man seeks opportunities to test his principles as readily as a drunk picks fights in a bar.

What a heap of ash most political careers amount to, when one really stops to consider them!

Egyptologists, skilled in piecing together the papyri of lost civilisations, suddenly discovered that the same talent could be applied to working out the pattern of German radio traffic.

The true currency of life is time, not money, and we've all got a limited stock of that.

In a way I'm almost more rueful about the notion of having a non-ideological Labour party than I am about the personality of Tony Blair.