Above all things -- read. Read the great stylists who cannot be copied rather than the successful writers who must not be copied.

You must be able to write. You must have a sense of form, of pattern, of design. You must have a respect for and a mastery over words.

Sometimes you will let go meet others, travel, experience beautiful things, but there's always someone you feel is home.

I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.

Who among us has the strength to oppose petty egoism, those petty good feelings, pity and remorse?

I've never experienced chronic poverty, but I know what it's like to live on £3 a week.

The idea that the Lord had given us a present, that the world is a gift from God... well, the amount of stuff, back then, that the Lord was giving away was limited. We do not have dominion.

If Richard Nixon was second-rate, what in the world is third-rate?

Fights over ideas are the most vicious of all. If it were merely food, or water, or shelter, we would work something out. But in the realm of ideas one can become idealistic .

I learnt an enormous amount, but there came a point where I found there was too much stress. It was no fun any more. Outside of the chessboard I avoid conflict, so I thought this wasn't worth it.

A true leader is not the one with the most followers, but one who creates the most leaders.

In nature there's no blemish but the mind. None can be called deformed but the unkind.