I can't remember who it was who advocated that you should march with the left and dine with the right but I've often concurred, taking the view that I personify the great tolerance of Britain by consenting to being regally entertained. Besides, there is a degree of truth in the view that while the left are worthier, the right are wittier.

I loathe computers more and more, so I have one I can shut down and shelve like a book.

There is a deep sadness to American poverty, greater than the sadness of any other kind. It's because America has such an ideology of success.

Always carry a notebook. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.

It is not that sport, over-indulged in, coarsens the mind; it is that it dulls it.

The great liberty of the fictional writer is to let the imagination out of the traces and see it gallop off over the horizon.

You know that sickening feeling of inadequacy and over-exposure you feel when you look upon your own empurpled prose? Relax into the awareness that this ghastly sensation will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful and publicly lauded you become. It is intrinsic to the real business of writing and should be cherished.