"History is idle gossip about a happening whose truth is lost the instant it has taken place."

"Never have children, only grandchildren."

"Each writer is born with a repertory company in his head."

"It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail."

"I suspect that one of the reasons we create fiction is to make sex exciting."

"Love is a fan club with only two fans."

"Traitors who prevail are patriots; usurpers who succeed are divine emperors."

"There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party … and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat."

"As I looked back over my life, I realized that I enjoyed nothing--not art, not sex--more than going to the movies."

"A writer must always tell the truth (unless he's a journalist)"

"Southerners make good novelists: they have so many stories because they have so much family."

"As the age of television progresses the Reagans will be the rule, not the exception. To be perfect for television is all a President has to be these days."

"Write what you know will always be excellent advice for those who ought not to write at all. Write what you think, what you imagine, what you suspect!"

"I'm a father; that's what matters most. "Nothing "matters more."

"Britain can be proud of its response to the tsunami appeal."

"Each year India and China produce four million graduates compared with just over 250,000 in Britain."

"America knows it has got to deal with its deficit problems so that it, too, can promise it is making its proper and best contributions to the world economy."

"Britain should be the world's number one center for genetic and stem cell research, building on our world leading regulatory regime in the area."

"We are being tough in saying it is a duty on the unemployed in future not only to be available for work - and not to shirk work - but also to get the skills for work. That is a new duty we are introducing."

"I don't see politics as one or two people just making or delivering announcements - it's also about winning public support and the public enthusiasm. You've got to win public support."

"In Britain, we are not a secular state as France is, or some other countries."

"When you've got a society that is diverse, what happens is for a time, the issue is integrating your minorities into that society."

"Stability is necessary for our future economic success."

"The way forward is for governments to consciously pursue monetary and fiscal stability through setting clear objectives, establishing proper rules, and requiring openness and transparency - the new rules of the game."