“Essentially, I spent most of my childhood with my mother and my older ...” — Claire Tomalin Quote

“Essentially, I spent most of my childhood with my mother and my older sister, and I suppose I had rather a romantic vision of how things might be if there were men around; I saw myself in a country house with six children and a garden. That has never been achieved - and I still regret it.”

“I think people are always saying things are 'over.' Fiction has been regularly 'over' since the 19th century.”

“The thing I love about Rome is that is has so many layers. In it, you can follow anything that interests you: town planning, architecture, churches or culture. It's a city rich in antiquity and early Christian treasures, and just endlessly fascinating. There's nowhere else like it.”

“I had achieved a lot on TV and I wanted to do a film. And during that time I was told many that 'you are a TV star, when people can watch you for free on TV who will buy a ticket to watch you on screen?' I faced it a lot.”

“I fought in the first of the 9/11 wars, as a Marine infantry commander in Afghanistan. That invasion achieved nothing of strategic significance; not then, not since.”

“I've learned that many of the worst things lead to the best things, that no great thing is achieved without a couple of bad, bad things on the way to them, and that the bad things that happen to you bring, in some cases, the good things.”