It was one of the late Conservative Government's gestures towards agriculture -- graceful as a kiss, and of about as much use.

I am old enough to see how little I have done in so much time, and how much I have to do in so little.

The majority of human beings do not turn to God because they have not enough happiness but because happiness is not enough.

Spring was coming back with the old promise, demanding the old sacrifice.

The great question of all choosers and adventurers is 'Was it worth while?' - and whatever else you may expect of life, don't expect an answer to that.

A novel which has been too much worked over often goes flat, and no amount of laborious revision can take the place of careful planning beforehand.

Pictures of my life stretch back into what must have been my very earliest childhood. ... They are not movies, then, nor are they talkies, but they are quite distinctly feelies.

Life justified itself. It might be cruel, treacherous, ironic, but it was life, and pain was as much a part of it as joy.

I've been writing full-time since 1978.

If the staff lacks policy guidance against which to test decisions, their decisions will be random.

The difference between the denominational system and the public school system is all the difference between bolstering them up on the one hand and letting them alone of the other.

Though he should conquer a thousand men in the battlefield a thousand times, yet he, indeed, who would conquer himself is the noblest victor.

This is almost the most famous story The last samurai - Samurai story - in Japan.

If other people are going to talk, conversation becomes impossible.

Attitude determines how well you do it.

I had a lot of nerves for a long time about career-oriented things, and I've slowly sort of let myself relax into it a bit.

I'm parodied as being some right-wing fundamentalist extremist, it just isn't true. The parody doesn't reflect reality.

However often the thread may be torn out of your hands, you must develop enough patience to wind it up again and again.