I don't like gurus. I don't like people who ask you to follow or believe. I like people who ask you to think independently.

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.

You are safe with me." "I am not at all safe, with you. But I have no desire to be elsewhere.

Louis de Bernires is in the direct line that runs through Dickens and Evelyn Waugh. . .he has only to look into his world, one senses, for it to rush into reality, colours and touch and taste.

Mine the long night The secret place Where lovers meet In long embrace In purple dark In silvered kiss Forget the world And grasp your bliss

On buses and trains, I always think about the inexhaustible variety of human genes. We see types, and occasionally twins, but never doubles. All faces are unique, and this is exhilarating, despite the increasingly plastic similarity of TV stars and actors.

I did a lot of my writing as though I was an academic, doing some piece of research as perfectly as possible.