There are no medium-sized trees in the deep forest. There are only the towering ones, whose canopy spreads across the sky. Below, in the gloom, there's light for nothing but mosses and ferns. But when a giant falls, leaving a little space ... then there's a race - between the trees on either side, who want to spread out, and the seedlings below, who race to grow up. Sometimes, you can make your own space.

However, you do need rules. Driving on the left (or the right or, in parts of Europe, on the left and the right as the mood takes you) is a rule which works, since following it means you're more likely to reach your intended rather than your final destination.

Always remember that the crowd that applauds your coronation is the same crowd that will applaud your beheading. People like a show.

A hardback's harder at Christmas time because that's a good hardback buying time.

It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. It's called living.

They suffered from the terrible delusion that something could be done. They seemed prepared to make the world the way they wanted it or die in the attempt, and the trouble with dying in the attempt was that you died in the attempt.

Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb - they're often students, for heaven's sake.