Either what we hold to be right and good and true IS right and good and true, for all mankind, or we're just another robber tribe.

When he reached the New World, Cortés burned his ships. As a result his crew was well-motivated.

[James Bond's qualities of] self-containment, his powers of decision, his ability to carry on through till the end and to survive ... I like to think I acquired them before Bond.

I just think the most difficult thing to displace is privilege.

You write your first draft with your heart and you re-write with your head. The first key to writing is to write, not to think.

Perhaps I'm not a good actor, but I would be even worse at doing anything else.

To cultivate an English accent is already a departure away from what you are.