“Your favourite virtue ... SimplicityYour favourite virtue in man ... StrengthYour favourite virtue in woman ... WeaknessYour chief characteristic ... Singleness of purposeYour idea of happiness ... To fightYour idea of misery ... SubmissionThe vice you excuse most ... GullibilityThe vice you detest most ... ServilityYour aversion ... Martin TupperFavourite occupation ... Book-wormingFavourite poet ... Shakespeare, Aeschylus, GoetheFavourite prose-writer ... DiderotFavourite hero ... Spartacus, KeplerFavourite heroine ... Gretchen [Heroine of Goethe's Faust]Favourite flower ... DaphneFavourite colour ... RedFavourite name ... Laura, JennyFavourite dish ... FishFavourite maxim ... Nihil humani a me alienum puto [Nothing human is alien to me]Favourite motto ... De omnibus dubitandum [Everything must be doubted].”

“My favourite setting is Italy, specifically Venice, because it is there that I met my husband, who is Venetian. I used it as the setting for Virtue and Vice, Enchantment in Venice, and Seduced by Innocence. Apart from Venice, my favourite city is Rome.”

“thinking about the misery of the world is a favourite contemporary occupation. and if you can't think the television set will think for you.”

“If you think about human nature, our favourite pair of shoes are the ones we bought yesterday, our favourite thing is the newest thing that we have…and the thing we’ve seen the most and for the longest period of time is our reflection in the mirror, so obviously that’s going to be our least favourite thing.”

“Reading is my favourite occupation, when I have leisure for it and books to read.”

“I've just had a really evil idea.""My favourite kind”

“Inside a dark well, everyman’s favourite colour is blue!”