Fiction is the great repository of the moral sense. The wicked get punished.

The self-fulfilled woman is far from reality.

Writing novels preserves you in a state of innocence - a lot passes you by - simply because your attention is otherwise diverted.

A man of such obvious and exemplary charm must be a liar.

I am 46, and have been for some time past.

Life... is not simply a series of exciting new ventures. The future is not always a whole new ball game. There tends to be unfinished business. One trails all sorts of things around with one, things that simply won't be got rid of.

You can never betray the people who are dead.