The strangest thing that human speech and human writing can do is create a metaphor. That is an amazing leap, is it not?

I also believe in cigarettes, cholesterol, alcohol, carbon monoxide, masturbation, the Arts Council, nuclear weapons, the Daily Telegraph, and not properly labeling fatal poisons, but above all else, most of all, I believe in the one thing that can come out of people's mouths: vomit.

The strangest thing that human speech and human writing can do is create a metaphor. That is an amazing leap, is it not?

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.

Metaphor is embodied in language.

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

You just don't know writers. They'll use anything, anybody. They'll eat their young.