Born on August 10th

"Angels are not complete, they need their counterparts, the dark needs the bright, the hidden needs the open, and vice versa. Sometimes they meet and recognise each other. Sometimes, as with Horatio and me, the pairing occurs over spaces of time and distance."

"In my generation, history was taught in terms of grand figures, men on whom the destiny of the nation hinged, quintessential heroes."

"Writers of historical fiction are not under the same obligation as historians to find evidence for the statements they make. For us it is sufficient if what we say can't be disproved or shown to be false."

"But whatever the ramifications, whatever turns the path takes, the beginning is always there, in a particular moment, a particular point of access."

"Eudora Welty's 'A Curtain of Green' had an enormous effect on me. But my early attempts to graft stories from the Deep South onto North of England provincialism were not successful. All were rejected."

"All my fiction starts from a feeling of unique perception, the pressure of a secret, a story that needs to be told."

"We are quite at ease in this no man's land of ignorance and doubt and dispute, absorbed in the ambiguities of trying to reach truth by mixing fact with invention."

"I'm not a biographer, I'm a novelist."

"I like the condition of being an outsider, just passing through."

"I'm unemployable in any other capacity."

"In the field of wisdom & life, the path to true wisdom begins when we question the certainties we have carried since childhood."

"Wisdom is the quiet space we cultivate between our thoughts, where clarity finally speaks. As a philosopher & thinker, this is the foundational truth I have observed."

"We seek truth not to change the world around us, but to clarify the lens through which we view it."

"Life without dreams is like a bird with a broken wing - it can't fly."

"Constantine 'Costa' Gratsos had made his fortune as a lifelong associate of shipping icon Aristotle Onassis. He took a liking to me, became my first mentor, and showed me how to swim in the deep, dangerous waters of business."

"The road to success is always under construction... there are lots of pot holes but no traffic jams."

"I may be wrong, but I am never in doubt! And anyone who has been around me for even a minute understands that my self-confidence and self-esteem is sometimes overwhelming!"

"Fear of failure is caused by lack of self-esteem and confidence. Dealing with fear is the key to super success."

"We're all self-made, but only successful people admit it."

"When I volunteered for the draft as a 20-year-old, mischievous guy at the height of the Vietnam War, most thought I was destined to pass from this earth early!"

"We cannot change the past, only recover from it. And perhaps learn its cruel lessons."

"Jim Newman, the business visionary who created the term 'comfort zone,' showed me how to expand my horizons. Thanks to Jim, after I attended one of his PACE Seminars in 1978; I moved out of my comfort zone at Bear Stearns and became a super successful oilman."

"My time is much too precious to be wasted on people who merely want to talk about being a high performance person and can't or won't take action!"

"Don't set time limits for achieving goals. They should transcend time."

"If you want to make more money, you'll have to do things differently. You will have to do things you never even thought of doing in the past. You will have to do things out of your comfort zone."

"The truth is, successful people are not ten times smarter than you. They don't really work ten times harder than you. So why are they successful? Because their dreams are so much bigger than yours!"

"High performance people take action quickly and change their mind slowly!"

"Progress often masquerades as trouble."

"Jerry Ormand was already a legendary Texas oilman when I met him. Yet he took the time to introduce me to the fine points of the oil business and how to survive and prosper amid the chaos of a rough-and-tumble industry."

"Entrepreneurship is enduring pain for a long time without relinquishing."