“We often overestimate what we can do in a day, but underestimate what we can do in a year.”

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”

“A leader would think that most people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”

“The reason we can assess people so rapidly is that we compare what we see before us with a set of previously established stereotypes - expectations based on what we have been told and what we have gained from past experience. Usually there is some element of truth in these stereotypes but they can also be misleading.”

“We cannot be all the writers all the time. We can only be who we are. Which leads me to my second point: writers do not write what they want, they write what they can.”

“Regardless of expense, the way we are dressed can show how much pride we take in ourselves and how we value cleanliness. The impression given can range from careless and sloppy to precious and obsessional. Perhaps the most important thing is to be appropriate; we are generally most comfortable when wearing the right thing for the occasion.”

“There’s a reason humans peg-out around eighty: prose fatigue. It looks like organ failure or cancer or stroke but it’s really just the inability to carry on clambering through the assault course of mundane cause and effect. If we ask Sheila then we can’t ask Ron. If I have the kippers now then it’s quiche for tea. Four score years is about all the ifs and thens you can take. Dementia’s the sane realisation you just can’t be doing with all that anymore.”