"Oddly, I do have a problem with authority. I find it very difficult to knuckle down and follow rules. Which are the classic symptoms of someone who has a troubled relationship with their father. And yet, I never had a problem with my father."

"America thinks of itself as a meritocracy, so people have more respect for success and more contempt for failure."

"In Britain, by contrast, we still think that class plays a part in determining a person's life chances, so we're less inclined to celebrate success and less inclined to condemn failure. The upshot is that it's much easier to be a failure in Britain than it is in America."

"There is not a single injustice in Northern Ireland that is worth the loss of a single British soldier or a single Irish citizen either."

"The failure of Christianity in the areas west from Sicily was even greater, and was increased by the spread of Arab outlooks and influence to that area, and especially to Spain."

"The paradox of freedom is that every failure is just a stepping stone to greatness."

"The once-unthinkable loss of the AAA rating will constitute a further hit to already fragile business and consumer confidence."