Whenever the clergy were at the elbow of the civil arm, no matter whether they were Catholic or Protestant, persecution was the result.
Develop craftsmanship through years of wide reading.
You know, one of the tragedies of real life is that there is no background music.
You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.
I wish I knew how to quit you.
We face up to awful things because we can't go around them, or forget them. The sooner you say 'Yes, it happened, and there's nothing I can do about it,' the sooner you can get on with your own life. You've got children to bring up. So you've got to get over it. What we have to get over, somehow we do. Even the worst things.
If you get the landscape right, the characters will step out of it, and they'll be in the right place.
People often recommend, "Why do you ask?" as a good conversation stopper. But that really doesn't end the conversation, it just leaves the other person sputtering for a response. I like, "You'll be the first to know. ".
Poets arguing about modern poetry: jackals snarling over a dried-up well.
Well, I'm directing a lot of television these days.
As he was valiant, I honour him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him.