..we were always taught, instead of waiting to be swept off our feet, to 'expect little, forgive much'.

It is horrid to smirk.

When someone loves you it's like having a blanket all round your heart.

It occurred to me that if Africa needed us, sometimes we needed Africa a great deal more.

I like you very much. Just as you are.

It is proved by surveys that happiness does not come from love, wealth, or power but the pursuit of attainable goals.

Sink into morbid, cynical reflection on how much romantic heartbreak is to do with ego and miffed pride rather than actual loss

One must not live one's life through men but must be complete on oneself as a woman of substance.

No one is thinking about you. They're thinking about themselves, just like you.

Tom has a theory that homosexuals and single women in their thirties have natural bonding: both being accustomed to disappointing their parents and being treated as freaks by society.

It's rather fun writing a female spy, because she has so much more kit. Bond never carried a hair dryer or a makeup bag. And he certainly didn't wear an uplift bra.

The harder I work, the luckier I get.

I always knew how to draw a crowd.

I didn't much like being in Parliament physically. I found it a bit depressing. It's very dark and heavy. I like being out and about.

I don't really do anything that isn't about writing, and I don't really know who I am if I'm not thinking about writing.

You've always got to have a plan B. You've got to be able to shift gears and find a new course of action.

The maximalist demand of a complete ban on weapons, and the 'incremental steps' towards disarmament are both jammed. Will advancing IHL help both of these processes?

The Church has always been willing to swap off treasures in heaven for cash down.

I was on the show previously as a guest host, so I had a little practice.

It's easy to break things. Much, much easier, it seems, than building them.

The two great aims of industrialism — replacement of people by technology and concentration of wealth into the hands of a small plutocracy — seem close to fulfillment.