The English reputation for humour is a way by which people avoid revealing themselves and have superficial relationships, so that you can engage in banter without making yourself vulnerable.

The British have turned their sense of humour into a national virtue. It is odd, because through much of history, humour has been considered cheap, and laughter something for the lower orders. But British aristocrats didn't care a damn about what people thought of them, so they made humour acceptable.

The French have made conversation their claim to civilisation.

The great thing about marriage is that it creates trust, the most precious of things.

People in this world of superficial communication find themselves isolated and lonely and have difficult in talking about personal things that really matter to them.

The Renaissance… was based on a new idea of the importance of the individual. But this was a fragile foundation, because individuals depended on constant applause and admiration to sustain them. There is a shortage of applause in the world, and there is not enough respect to go around.

We should strive to be employed in such a way that we don't realize that what we're doing is work.