Writing a book has about it some of the anxiety of telling a joke and having to wait several years to know whether or not it was funny.

It seems the only way to write a half decent book is to worry oneself sick on an hourly basis that one is producing a complete disaster.

There is always the option of being emotionally lazy, that is, of quoting.

Anyone who isn't embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn't learning enough.

It should not be Illiers-Combray that we visit: a genuine homage to Proust would be to look at our world through his eyes, not look at his world through our eyes.

It is perhaps when our lives are at their most problematic that we are likely to be most receptive to beautiful things.

It's very hard to respect people on holiday - everybody looks so silly at the beach, it makes you hate humanity - but when you see people at their work they elicit respect, whether it's a mechanic, a stonemason or an accountant.