“One of my most vivid memories of the mid-1950s is of crying into a was...” — Claire Tomalin Quote

“One of my most vivid memories of the mid-1950s is of crying into a washbasin full of soapy grey baby clothes - there were no washing machines - while my handsome and adored husband was off playing football in the park on Sunday morning with all the delightful young men who had been friends to both of us at Cambridge three years earlier.”

“Dickens is always full of surprises.”

“You become more tolerant when you become older. You're not interested in rapping people over the knuckles; you're interested in understanding them.”

“You know, you learned that very young in American culture that the feminine boys don't do well. And yet, I had a dad who was a lieutenant colonel in the army. My dad was a man's man, but he still adored me. And somehow in the midst of that, I still grew up hating the sissy in me.”

“I had a crush on Liesl - Charmian - she was so beautiful. God, those wonderful, beautiful blue eyes. I was so much younger than her, I was 13, she was 20, a grown up. I adored her.”

“I've always loved French music. My parents adored it; my father played it on the piano.”