For me, as I suspect for most people, there comes a point where you have enough. If you've got £20 million, why keep going until you've got £100 million or £1,000 million? Does anyone need another vast yacht or private jet or a house full of gold?

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

If you go back, 'The Great Gatsby' would be a portrait of the rich and fortune made by business.

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

History is what we bring to it, not just the events themselves, but how we interpret those events.

A book unwritten is a delightful universe of infinite possibilities. Set down one word, however, and it immediately becomes earthbound. Set down one sentence and it’s halfway to being just like every other bloody book that’s ever been written.

Don't try to write too much in a single session. One thousand words a day is quite enough. Stop after about four or five hours.