I flicked my eyes over to Steve again and saw him straighten. He would need a diversion just to start. “Explanations?” I bellowed. “Explanations? There’s your explanation…there!” I stabbed a finger dramatically towards the far corner of the room. Pathetic, really. I mean, talk about the oldest trick in the book. But it’s a good book, and the trick would have been cut from subsequent editions if it didn’t sometimes work.

I may have looked happy but inside I was hopelessly depressed.

Literature is the only access to truth we have on this planet.

Coming out as gay was an easy enough matter for me, since I worked in a profession where being gay had a long history of being accepted.

Talent is inborn, but technique is learned.

In a dung heap, even a plastic bead can gleam like a sapphire.

Humanism is an approach to life which encourages ethical and fulfilling living on the basis of reason and humanity, and rejects superstition and religion. The most immediate impact of living as a Humanist is that we believe this life is all there is - so what we do and the choices we make really count.