Robert Harris

“Working 14 hours a day until you're 55 and missing your kids growing up is not what I would consider a recipe for happiness.”

“I see myself as the literary equivalent of a skilled lathe-operator, or a basket-weaver; a potter, maybe: I make mildly diverting objects that people want to buy.”

“Humans have changed little over time. We think we've invented the modern world but they were making better speeches 2,000 years ago and grappling with issues of empire and terrorism.”

“I am sure future historians will say the biggest and most astonishing change in politics has been the embracing of all the tenets of Thatcherism by the party of Keir Hardie: trade union legislation, Europe, the replacement of Trident, 10 per cent tax for people who have made millions from their companies.”

“The financial markets tend to be just a backdrop for a novel, for a heist or something that isn't necessarily integral to it. On the whole, I don't think the financial world has been well served by novels.”

“We live in an age of great jitteriness in the financial markets. And there's no doubt at all, I think, that the volume of computer-traded stocks has helped contribute to that.”

“My literary career was a fluke. Utterly unexpected.”

“History is what we bring to it, not just the events themselves, but how we interpret those events.”

“It's when you've stopped writing and are doing other things, especially when you're asleep, that the real work is done.”

“I was a political journalist; I came to writing novels through an interest in politics and power.”

“...he possessed for attractive form of courage: bravery of a nervous man. After all, any rash fool can be a hero if he sets no value on his life or hasn't the wit to appreciate the danger. But to understand the risks, perhaps even to flinch at first, but then summon the strength to face them down--that is my opinion is the most commendable for of value...”

“Orwell has always been a huge influence on me.”

“Politics is never a victory, it's just the remorseless grinding forward of events.”

“My father left school at 14, my mother at 13. My father was clever and well-read. He took a newspaper, always watched the news, discussed it all the time.”

“I write as well as I can. I'm a journalist at heart, so it's the story that matters.”

“Having the urge to write a novel, especially if you've yet to be published, is like having a medical condition impossible to mention in polite company - it's a relief simply to know there are fellow-sufferers out there.”