I kind of dread any kind of critical response, just because it's always painful in some way. Even if it's 80 percent good, it's the 20 percent that's bad that you remember - and that's a higher number than I usually get, 80 percent would be amazing.

It's rare in movies or even in life where somebody owns up to their needs. I guess in a relationship it's the only way it has a chance to survive it.

The happiest moment of my life was probably when my daughter was born.

I think it was W.H. Auden who said he was lucky that his first favorite poet was Thomas Hardy, who was a good but not a great poet, because if you are exposed to the greats too soon it can just squash you as a writer.

I'm very proud of my Scottish blood.

Sex is great until you die, but it's never as great as it was when you were a kid, when it was a mystery.

Our human nature is exactly the same as it was 500 years ago, let alone five years ago.