There must be a day or two in a man's life when he is the precise age for something important.

You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance.

I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way.

Having imagination, it takes you an hour to write a paragraph that, if you were unimaginative, would take you only a minute. Or you might not write the paragraph at all.

I am easily influenced. Compared with me a weather vane is Gibraltar.

Too much truth Is uncouth.

Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory.

Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.

You do not know what you can miss before you try.

There are hundreds who can stand failure to one who can stand success; the good loser is far more common than the good winner.

Remember how excited you were when you turned five years old. Today, you should be 10 times that excited. Happy 50th birthday!

the militay dont start wars, politicians start wars

The sky’s dangers offer the eagle more opportunities than the nest’s comfort.

An idea can be as flawless as can be, but its execution will always be full of mistakes.

[Malipiero's advice to Casanova.] If you wish your audience to cry, you must shed tears yourself, but if you wish to make them laugh you must contrive to look as serious as a judge.

If something like one in nine Londoners is a Muslim, then I want one in nine police officers to be a Muslim. Which means we are currently about 2,000 short.

I'm much better at saying something on the answering machine than texting.

We are not a failure just because we fail at something. Nobody is a failure unless they quit trying!

I was the last Republican lieutenant governor and it's been over 20 years.

But I tell you one thing, I don't want to be immortal if it mean living forever, cause then everybody else just die and get old in front of you while you stay the same, and that's just sad.

I'm very happy for whatever plaudits might come the way of my work, but I never ever sit down to write x with y in view - whether it's a reader, a prize or a sale.