My life divides into three parts. In the first I was wretched; in the second ill at ease; in the third hunting.

My 2018 ended with a hate storm, in response to my appointment as chair of the government's Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission.

The rude, raw, 'let it all hang out' freedom of the Californian hippies was in fact the most censorious and oppressive of societies that I have encountered.

Buildings like Penn Station attract our protective instincts not only because of their beauty but because we fear what will come to replace them.

Environmental degradation has one cause above all others: the propensity of human beings to take the benefit and leave the costs to someone else, preferably someone far away in space or time, whose protests can be safely ignored.

My main argument is that environmental destruction comes when people externalise their costs and pass them on to future generations. That is obviously something that large enterprises do and they become large by doing it.

No, I don't think I've ever really favoured English independence. My view is that if the Scots want to be independent then we should aim for the same thing.

It is scarcely a mark of intellectual profundity to have noticed that our society is big.

Punishment is justice for the unjust.

We are too weak to discover the truth by reason alone

Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.

And I entered and beheld with the eye of my soul... the Light Unchangeable... He that knows the Truth, knows what that Light is; and he that knows It, knows Eternity.

Complete abstinence is easier than perfect moderation.

I found thee not, O Lord, without, because I erred in seeking thee without that wert within.

There is no possible source of evil except good.

Grant what thou commandest and then command what thou wilt.

God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering.

To abstain from sin when one can no longer sin is to be forsaken by sin, not to forsake it.

To seek the highest good is to live well.

The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.

Find out how much God has given you and from it take what you need; the remainder is needed by others.

Give me chastity and continence, but not yet.

No eulogy is due to him who simply does his duty and nothing more.

Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.