A man who lives with nature is used to violence and is companionable with death. There is more violence in an English hedgerow than in the meanest streets of a great city.

The art of communication is the language of leadership.

Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today.

The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.

If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success.

Every time you have to speak, you are auditioning for leadership.

A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.

One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can't utter.

People trample over flowers, yet only to embrace a cactus.

The great appear great to us.

The Irish people will only be free, when they own everything from the plough to the stars

Each of us has our own unique traits, but we need them to fulfil our destiny

...the pleasantness of an employment does not always evince its propriety.

If you want to know where God is, ask a drunk.

When somebody you've known for 20 years, and with whom you have a full context, winks at you or whatever, it can be huge. I think in a sense what you're trying to re-create in fiction is that.

when women progress, all of society benefits.

There's a lot of water in everything I've ever written. There's always oceans and pools.

Like most lazy upper-middle-class kids, American Studies seemed like a fun way to use your knowledge of TV to get an A.

I was a section commander in the parachute regiment [in the British army].

What comes next? Super Mario 128? Actually, that's what I want to do.

Ninety percent of true love is acute, ear-burning embarrassment.