"Beware of whores who say they don't want money." - William Burroughs


"Satire is a lesson. Parody is a game." - Vladimir Nabokov


"I do not feel that gender is sufficient to explain all of human life." - Camille Paglia


"The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." - Eden Phillpotts


"Self-pity is the ugliest emotion." - Stephen Fry

Advice to my young self #95: Idiots moralise because they can't afford to grasp the facts. Manipulators moralise because they can't afford for you to grasp them.

Advice to my young self #98: Two levels of wisdom: To forgive oneself for being wrong, and to forgive the other for being right.

Advice to my young self #44: Shallow people make shallow mistakes. Profound people make profound mistakes.

Advice to my young self #70: Stupid people are not those who ask stupid questions. They are those committed to stupid answers.

Advice to my young self #06: Politics is not secularised religion. Religion is mystified politics.

Advice to my young self #58: Neutralise fanatics by giving them something trivial to be fanatical about.

Advice to my young self #50: All human interaction is tactical. Even when there is nothing to fight over.

Advice to my young self #62: Selling out looks a lot like winning.

Advice to my young self #30: A deep insight is one which destroys a deep illusion.