Anthony Powell

"The whole idea of interviews is in itself absurd – one cannot answer deep questions about what one's life was like – one writes novels about it."

"Parents – especially step-parents – are sometimes a bit of a disappointment to their children. They don't fufill the promise of their early years."

"He fell in love with himself at first sight and it is a passion to which he has always remained faithful."

"Self-love seems so often unrequited."

"[T]here is no greater sign of innate misery than a love of teasing."

"Growing old's like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven't committed."

"People think because a novel's invented, it isn't true. Exactly the reverse is the case. Because a novel's invented, it is true. Biography and memoirs can never be wholly true, since they can't include every conceivable circumstance of what happened. The novel can do that. The novelist himself lays it down. His decision is binding."