“Two lives met across death and centuries. To ask what it meant is meaningless. There is no destiny. But sometimes there is bravery.”

“I am told that our chroniclers' practice of inventing speeches for great persons whose lives they write is unscholarly.”

I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when looked at in the right way did not become still more complicated.

I wanted to retire from all that, but I guess my breasts still have a career, and I'm just tagging along with them.

“My ideal relaxation is working on upholstry. I spend hours in junk shops buying furniture. I do all the upholstery work myself, and it's like therapy.”

I like to do everything myself - I'm very hands-on with my housekeeping, my children, travelling, how I do things.

“It doesn't hurt. Nothing hurts except the small smiles and blushes that flash across the room like tiny sparrows.”