Rather than getting more spoilt with age, as difficulties pile up, epiphanies of gratitude abound.

People only get really interesting when they start to rattle the bars of their cages.

Objectively good spaces to work rarely end up being so; in their faultlessness, quiet and well-equipped studios have a habit of rendering the fear of failure overwhelming. Original thoughts are like shy animals. We sometimes have to look the other way - towards a busy street or terminal - before they run out of their burrows.

All tours are filled with humiliation. My publisher once hired a private jet to fly me to a venue where 1,000 people were waiting. It almost bankrupted him.

The finest proof of our loyalty toward one another was our monstrous disloyalties towards everyone else.

Getting to the top has an unfortunate tendency to persuade people that the system is OK after all.

The universe is large and we are tiny, without the need for further religious superstructure. One can have so-called spiritual moments without belief in the spirit.