I was no good at being a child.

Lists are a form of power.

I'm not very interested in myself. I do have a deep moral belief that you should always look out at other things and not be self-centred.

I cannot bear not to know the end of a tale. I will read the most trivial things – once commenced – only out of a feverish greed to be able to swallow the ending – sweet or sour – and to be done with what I need never have embarked on. Are you in my case? Or are you a more discriminating reader? Do you lay aside the unprofitable?

Think of this - that the writer wrote alone, and the reader read alone, and they were alone with each other.

It's a terrible poison, writing.

I think the virtue I prize above all others is curiosity. If you look really hard at almost anybody, and try to see why they're doing what they're doing, taking a dig at them ceases to be what you want to do even if you hate them.