The only redemptive feature of war is the brotherhood which it forges.

As George Orwell wisely observed a generation later, the only way swiftly to end a war is to lose it.

We're taking part in a divine comedy and we should realise that the play is always a comedy, in that we're all ultimately ridiculous.

If you can't get a job as a pianist in a brothel, you become a royal reporter.

People who get on at school are the ones who play by the rules, and no one's going to get far in later life playing by the system.

A Tory government with a decent mandate seems the only hope of tackling the fiscal catastrophe responsibly.

You cannot write down how people are good; you just know it, and cannot get away from it.

Lots of us when we're children believe 'oh well, if the world knew us as we really are, they'd know what wonderful, clever, brilliant, charming people we really are.'

It's miraculous how much easier the computer has made my sort of work.

I would have been a disastrous soldier.

When I am fishing, I think quite a lot about the fish, but I also think about the book I'm writing.

Sin is the handle by which I get Christ, ...

Anyone who's married to Mariah Carey - I'm pretty sure - doesn't have a great sense of humor. I mean, let's be honest: she's ridiculous. What is her game plan?

Only the guy who isn't rowing has time to rock the boat.

I've liked lots of people 'til I went on a picnic jaunt with them.

That's when the dream is so far off it seems like it will never happen. It can be most anything you want it to be.

I'd rather be wrong to set you free than be right to do you harm (162).

There were dreams once upon a time, dreams now all but forgotten. On sad days I dust them off and fondle them nostalgically, with a patronizing wonder at the naivete of the youth who dreamed them.

Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you're needed by someone.

I'm not used to crying. It's a little difficult. All my life I've had to fight. It's just another fight I'm going to have to learn how to win, that's all. I'm just going to have to keep smiling.

It does not matter if you believe in God, because God believes in you.