So given a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone’s total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its vicissitudes.

I write fiction and I’m told it’s autobiography, I write autobiography and I’m told it’s fiction, so since I’m so dim and they’re so smart, let them decide what it is or it isn’t.

译文：世俗人的感情好比一张张纸，张张都是一样薄；人世间的事情好比一盘棋，一局更比一局新。赏析：人生坎坷不平，命运沉浮变化。世态炎凉如冰，人情淡薄似纸，不过是常态而已。我们唯有学会以平常心生存，才能在得意时不张扬，失意时不消沉。

Old minds are like old horses; you must exercise them if you wish to keep them in working order.