Children can write poetry and then, unless they're poets, they stop when reach puberty.

Religion, you can't a handle on it, you just have to know or not know-people either believe or they don't believe.

Politics is still crucially important. Our choices are vital, and we've got to make them and not just say, 'Oh they're all the same.' They are all the same in certain ways, alas - a political animal is such an animal.

A writer helps to show you things you knew but didn't know you knew.

It is a dangerous thing to have instant access to your emotions.

I haven't had a single moment of terror since they told me [I was dying]. My only regret is to die four pages too soon. If I can finish, then I'm quite happy to go.

The more my work improves or broadens or widens, the more surely I tame myself.