"Monarchists frequently declare that without the royal family, Britain would be 'nothing.' What a woeful lack of love for one's country such statements express."

"As a child, I wanted only two things - to be left alone to read my library books, and to get away from my provincial hometown and go to London to be a writer. And I always knew that when I got there, I wanted to make loads of money."

"What sort of sap doesn't know by now that picture-perfect beauty is all done with smoke and mirrors anyway?"

"Being a monarchist - saying that one small group is born more worthy of respect than another - is just as warped and strange as being a racist."

"Kindness is the invisible thread that binds all kindred spirits together. In this truth lies the bedrock of all virtue — an essential principle for the reflective life."

"Men go into marriage with virtually no expectations whatsoever. Ten years later, the men are delightfully surprised to find out that it's actually kind of nice, and the women have sort of had to take a nose dive from what they thought it was going to be."

"A steadfast commander remains calm when the storm rages fiercest. In this truth lies the bedrock of all virtue."

"A visionary sees the unseen and knows the only true currency in life is time well spent."