Young girls are sad. They like to be; it makes them feel strong.

It is good for a man to invite his ghosts into his warm interior, out of the wild night, into the firelight, out of the howling dark.

You can understand a lot about yourself by working out which fairytale you use to present your world to yourself in.

Funny way to spend your life, though, studying another chap's versifying.

I watch a lot of sport on television. I only watch certain sports, and I only watch them live - I don't think I've ever been able to watch a replay of a match or game of which the result was already decided. I feel bound to cheat and look up what can be looked up.

I am not an academic who happens to have written a novel. I am a novelist who happens to be quite good academically.

History, writing, infect after a time a man's sense of himself.