“There is, I believe, a great deal to be learned from faith traditions – from the ordinary people who practice them today; from their sacred texts and writings and artefacts; and from their histories.”

“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.”

“Papa Hegel he say that all we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history. I know people who can't even learn from what happened this morning. Hegel must have been taking the long view.”

“I have learned a great deal from novels. Some of it is even true.”

“We learn from history that we do not learn from history.”

“We learn from history that we don't learn from history!”

“If you look at practically anyone - I mean, I find this more and more - the more you look at people the more you find that they've actually manufactured themselves. People whose names that you know. I meet lots of people in my ordinary life, away from writing, who seem to be authentic, who seem to know where they've come from and who they are, but anyone that I deal with in, if you like, my profession, we all seem to have made ourselves. I think artists are all self-made.”

“Scriptures, n. The sacred books of our holy religion, as distinguished from the false and profane writings on which all other faiths are based.”

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

“Hegel is correct: we learn from history that we cannot learn from it.”