“In opposition, there's not much one can do. One doesn't have the carrot and one doesn't have the stick. One can't promote and one can't fire. And persuasion has its limits.”

“I need to be myself / I can't be no-one else
"You can have it all but how much do you want it?"”

“A professional is a man who can do his job when he doesn't feel like it; an amateur is one who can't when he does feel like it.”

“There's absolutely no one in the world that can tell you can't do something. You're the only person that can set that limitation.”

“There is only one will and that is the Will of Fire. The will that doesn't let you give up”

“In a history book, you can't imagine, you can't speculate, you can't conjure new worlds because that would ruin the history book. .... And in a novel you can't have too much fact-dumping, too much history, it just doesn't work, too much footnoting, again that ruins the story. So I love the fact that I can do speculation and imagination in one and go wild in a novel and then do proper, scrupulous research in the other. I think they compliment each other.”

“When a man does exactly what a woman expects him to do she doesn't think much of him. One should always do what a woman doesn't expect, just as one should say what she doesn't understand.”

“It is unforgivable to do what one doesn't love especially if one succeeds.”

“One doesn't generally look into mirrors when one is especially angry; one has better things to do, like pace the floor or throw things.”

“You can want one thing and have a secret wish for its opposite.”