A biography for A. A. Gillhasn’t been written yet.
“The suit is the polite taming, the socialising, the neutering, of riding and military kit. Those pointless buttons on the cuff were moved from lateral to vertical.”
“A lot of London's image never was. There never was a Dickensian London, or a Shakespearean London, or a swinging London.”
“Trying to learn to be a good man is like learning to play tennis against a wall. You are only a good man - a competent, capable, interesting and lovable man - when you're doing it for, or with, other people.”
“Gift giving is one of the oldest forms of human interaction. It is a behaviour all cultures and all classes share.”
“You don't have a choice about fashion or aesthetics - you're in it, whether you like it or not.”
“Texting isn't writing. It's not like letter writing. Texting is short scriptwriting. It's a collaborative soap opera where nothing happens.”
“I'm terribly prone to anxiety. I get very depressed and I get very anxious and my anxiety is almost always about my children.”
“Everyone has to go to a funeral at some time and you need to be dark and sombre, and in a black tie.”
“Women's handbags are incredibly heavy. You rarely get to pick one up and, when you do, you wonder why anyone carries so much stuff around all day.”
“The more there is on offer, the more you don't want. Fifty options of cereal does not hone an epicurean expertise in the finer points of puffed rice, it murders appetite.”
“One of the small joys that's easy to miss in London is the blue plaques on buildings. These are put up to commemorate the famous on the houses they lived in.”
“The London police have discovered that the best way to neuter demonstrations is not to move everyone on, or disperse troublemakers, but hold them close, cordon them into a diminishing space for hours and hours, as a sort of arbitrary al fresco arrest.”
“All people from small islands dance funny.”
“The pleasure in lovers' gifts is that they are often covert and secretive, worn next to the skin, hidden under pillows.”
“I don't do dinner parties. I have people come to share the food I've cooked for the family.”
“Hate numbs the judgment, paralyzes the vitals of democracy.”
“Mr. Obama is the only popular politician left in the world. He would win an election in any one of the G-20 countries, and his fellow world leaders will do anything to take home a touch of that reflected popularity.”
“I don't have prejudices against anybody. I have opinions, based on a lifetime's experience.”
“Have you ever wondered why the rich and privileged care about, or even bother with, the gift bag? Because they don't need this stuff. If they wanted it, they could afford to buy it, without blinking. But they love the gift bag, beyond reason.”
“Clothes maketh the man. They don't make you some other man.”