It is said that whomsoever the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad. In fact, whomsoever the gods wish to destroy, they first hand the equivalent of a stick with a fizzing fuse and Acme Dynamite Company written on the side. It's more interesting, and doesn't take so long.

Most gods throw dice, but Fate plays chess, and you don't find out til too late that he's been playing with two queens all along.

You were the kind of kid who couldn't see the difference between throwing rocks at a cat and setting it on fire.

Logic is a wonderful thing but doesn't always beat actual thought.

Geography is just physics slowed down, with a couple of trees stuck in it.

If you have let pride get the better of you, then you have already lost, but if you grab pride by the scruff of the neck and ride it like a stallion, then you may have already won.

I intend, before the endgame looms, to die sitting in a chair in my own garden with a glass of brandy in my hand and Thomas Tallis on the iPod. Oh, and since this is England, I had better add, "If wet, in the library." Who could say that this is bad?