When I was 20 I was immensely proud of the rows of grey-spined Penguin Modern Classics in my bookcase.

The clothes you wear are a metamorphosis. They change you from the outside in.

Reading wasn't my religion - it was my oxygen.

It's not the punch you expect that knocks you down.

I am not by any stretch of the imagination a tidy person, and the piles of unread books on the coffee table and by my bed have a plaintive, pleading quality to me - 'Read me, please!'

Revenge is so much more satisfying than regret.

A new dress. Is this all it takes to make a new beginning, this shred of dyed cloth, shaped into the form of a woman's body?

I'm a really hectic dreamer, I never wake up not out of a dream and there's loads going on, lots of action, big blockbuster dreams, they're all major enterprises.

What is the death of a soldier even off duty of an occupying army walking in an occupied territory against the death of a little boy screaming in terror in his father's arms Where is the equivalence

Marriages last because the people in them want to be married

How can life end in the middle of the story? Because life always does.

The mind is an empire unto itself.

Who is not afraid of pure space - that breathtaking empty space of an open door?

All human evil comes from a single cause, man's inability to sit still in a room.

The strongest knowledge (that of the total freedom of the human will) is nonetheless the poorest in successes: for it always has the strongest opponent, human vanity.

Yes, we too are stardust.

Speak from your mind and people will hear you with their mind. Speak from your heart and people will hear you with their heart.

Think 8 hours, work 2 hours.

I picture success and winning. The body has a physical response to mental images of winning.

In the locker rooms, I'm always suggesting, "You need Berlei." Because it's the best brand for women and for me.

Be brave, Beatrice. I love you.