Christmas has become a public affirmation of the power and benignity of the state, to which we all make obeisance in the sybolism of the breath test ceremony.

Politicians can forgive almost anything in the way of abuse; they can forgive subversion, revolution, being contradicted, exposed as liars, even ridiculed, but they can never forgive being ignored.

It is my settled opinion, after some years as a political correspondent, that no one is attracted to a political career in the first place unless he is socially or emotionally crippled.

Anyone wishing to communicate with Americans should do so by e-mail, which has been specially invented for the purpose, involving neither physical proximity nor speech.

You should tell the truth as often as you can, but in such a way as people don't believe you or think that you're being funny.

Unless people are prepared to declare themselves your enemies you have to hunt around for them.

There are many Welsh who are taciturn, truthful, well formed, open minded, handsome and peaceful, even if no particular individual immediately springs to mind.

Strange how much simple wisdom there is to be found in the deformed head and unprepossessing carcase of your typical London cabbie.

The two sides of industry have traditionally always regarded each other in Britain with the greatest possible loathing, mistrust and contempt. They are both absolutely right.

History, having destroyed the religion as the opium of the people, now requires that they be given a taste of the real stuff.

The main objection to killing people as a punishment...is that killing people is wrong

A prose that is altogether alive demands something of the reader that the ordinary novel reader is not prepared to give.

I can see clouds a thousand miles away, hear ancient music in the pines.

Second-rate minds usually condemn everything beyond their grasp.

Being anxious, or in a painful rush of any kind, kills the possibility of meeting anyone with compassion

Calmness of will is a sign of grandeur.

Art has a unique capacity to take one or other facet of the message and translate it into colors, shapes and sounds which nourish the intuition of those who look and listen.

The World Cup must remain the number one competition, because it is our only source of money and, with that money, we can develop football in the whole world.

The city and nature, the built stone and the found stone, concrete and slate, poetry addresses them all democratically.

Sometimes offering support and making yourself available when the child or adolescent is ready to talk can be the most helpful you can be.

Anything can be achieved with a strong enough why!