When Proust urges us to evaluate the world properly, he repeatedly reminds us of the value of modest scenes.

The price we have paid for expecting to be so much more than our ancestors is a perpetual anxiety that we are far from being all we might be.

People who go on to be writers are those who can forgive themselves the horror of the first draft.

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.

My writing always came out of a very personal place, out of an attempt to stay sane.

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

What is fascinating about marriage is why anyone wants to get married.