In 1984, I returned to Newnham College at Cambridge University to teach after completing my Ph.D. there a couple of years earlier. Almost all of my colleagues in the university's classics department were men, and my office at the all-women's college was in the dorm.

One of the downsides of working in antiquity is that you don't have many female voices, but you certainly have a lot of male terror about the potential of women's power. It shows you very clearly that the most oppressive cultures tend to be afraid of those whom they oppress.

For whatever reason, some sorts of women's silence were broken by MeToo. This is the optimistic bit. And that will lead to a much more careful attention to women's voices.

Gender is a key marker of power and powerlessness. Most of the structures of how our world works are biased in terms of men.

In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to another.

I think that the economics of book publishing favor hits with long book runs. You make all your money on the last bunch of books, not the first.

We don't fight about money... I hate to see people fight about money.

Money doesn't buy happiness. But happiness isn't everything.