Words themselves - the very material of our discourse increasingly take on masks or disguises

Ideals jump across the hierarchies of the printed word.

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

People endure what they endure and they deal with it. It may corrupt them. It may lead them into all sorts of compensatory excesses.

God, I'm such a lazy writer - I can't even think up new names.

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.

Some of the words and symbols and images from childhood will continually be part and parcel of my personality.