I take notice of those who have argued consistently for the modernisation of the E.U., but so many of the skeptics in Britain are just hostile to the whole European idea.

The Parthenon without the marbles is like a smile with a tooth missing.

The House of Lords must go - not be reformed, not be replaced, not be reborn in some nominated life-after-death patronage paradise, just closed down, abolished, finished.

I warn you not to be ordinary, I warn you not to be young, I warn you not to fall ill, and I warn you not to grow old.

I would die for my country, but I could never let my country die for me.

I'm prepared to take advice on leisure from Prince Philip. He's a world expert on leisure. He's been practicing it for most of his adult life.

We cannot remove the evils of capitalism without taking its source of power: ownership.

Arthur Scargill is the Labour movements nearest equivalent to a First World War General.

The unforgivable political sin is vanity, the killer diet is sour grapes.

The enemy of idealism is zealotry.

They travel best in gangs, hanging around like clumps of bananas, thick skinned and yellow.

Your hypocrisy insults my intelligence.

Cinema, radio, television, magazines are a school of inattention: people look without seeing, listen in without hearing

Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.

If you keep asking me questions, I will continue to find excuses.

Fiction is based on reality unless you're a fairy-tale artist, you have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you're writing about before you alter it.

Do you know what is really embarrassing and makes your pride hurt? Lacking some skill? Not being able to earn some money? It's not that. Fearing something once, and being scared of it forever.

All is flux, nothing stays still, as Heraclitus said. By the time I wrote this, everything has changed in the universe; everything but the taste of the cakes baked at home!

I don't have time for lie-on-the-beach vacations. I'm a zoo person. There's one in New Jersey where animals actually come up to your car. I love the monkeys - I used to give them bubblegum to chew.

James Patterson has a way with female characters. He understands women in a way that a lot of male writers don't.

I didn't say the things I said.