Is there anything in the world better than words on the page? Magic signs, the voices of the dead, building blocks to make wonderful worlds better than this one, comforters, companions in loneliness. Keepers of secrets, speakers of the truth...all those glorious words.

What are stories for if we don't learn from them?

Nobody loves only once.

You know a great many things in dreams, often despite the evidence of your eyes. You just know them.

I'm perfectly happy to know the world at secondhand. It's a lot safer.

It's a good idea to have your own books with you in a strange place

Read – and be curious. And if somebody says to you: 'Things are this way. You can't change it' - don't believe a word.