"My mother wanted me to be a teacher. She had this vision of me walking across the quadrangle in an Oxford college wearing my academic gown."

"Bleak House is just the most astounding piece of work. There's huge, visionary poetry in it."

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence."

"I count religion but a childish toy, and hold there is no sin but ignorance."

"The feeling remains that God is on the journey, too."

"Old age is far more than white hair, wrinkles, the feeling that it is too late and the game finished, that the stage belongs to the rising generations. The true evil is not the weakening of the body, but the indifference of the soul."