I'm not "happy" but I'm not unhappy about it..

You always know when you're going to arrive. If you go by car, you don't. Apart from anything else, I prefer cycling. It puts you in a good mood, I f….

To begin with, it's true, she read with trepidation and some unease. The sheer endlessness of books outfaced her and she had no idea how to go on; th….

...she felt about reading what some writers felt about writing: that it was impossible not to do it and that at this late stage of her life she had b….

The majority of people perform well in a crisis and when the spotlight is on them; it's on the Sunday afternoons of this life, when nobody is looking….

Authors, she soon decided, were probably best met within the pages of their novels, and were as much creatures of the reader's imagination as the cha….

History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is women following behind with the bucket..

It was the kind of library he had only read about in books..

We started off trying to set up a small anarchist community, but people wouldn't obey the rules..

My films are about embarrassment..

I'm for the freedom of expression, given that it will be under strict control..

Schweitzer in the Congo did not derive more moral credit than Larkin did for living in Hull..

At the drabber moments of my life (swilling some excrement from the steps, for instance, or rooting with a bent coat-hanger down a blocked sink) thou….

Cancer, like any other illness, is a bore..

I dont know whether you've ever looked into a miner's eyes for any length of time, that is. Because it is the loveliest blue you've ever seen. I thin….

So boring you fall asleep halfway through her name..

Life is rather like a tin of sardines - we're all of us looking for the key..

No mention of God. They keep Him up their sleeves for as long as they can, vicars do. They know it puts people off..

One recipe for happiness is to have to sense of entitlement.' To this she added a star and noted at the bottom of the page: 'This is not a lesson I h….

We have fish and chips, which W. and I fetch from the shop in Settle market-place. Some local boys come in and there is a bit of chat between them an….

Remember. You are a physician. You are not a policeman nor are you a minister of religion. You must take people as they come. Remember, too that thou….