As a writer, I've always been interested in others.

Literature for me isn't a workaday job, but something which involves desires, dreams and fantasy.

The most important basis of any novel is wanting to be someone else, and this means creating a character.

A l'intérieur de ce corps vivait l'âme d'une intellectuelle et poète dont personne n'avait le soupçon. Within this body lived the soul of an intellectual and poet, which nobody had suspected.

I vividly remember the stories my grandfather told me about the carnage of the First World War, which people tend to forget was one of the worst massacres in human history.

I prefer insomnia to anaesthesia.

It's very useful when politicians have doubts because there are so many choices to be made in the world.