I still believe in stories. I still forget myself when I am in the middle of a good book. Books are for me, it must be said, the most important thing.

There was no single moment when I thought, Aha! What a great idea! Rather there was a slow and gradual accumulation of numerous small ideas.

Boys do not leave their boyhood behind when they leave off their school uniform.

Emmeline didn't call me anything. She didn't need, for I was always there. You only need names for the absent.

She was a do-gooder, which means that all the ill she did, she did without realizing it.

Still in my coat and hat, I sank onto the stair to read the letter. (I never read without making sure I am in a secure position. I have been like this ever since the age of seven when, sitting on a high wall and reading The Water Babies, I was so seduced by the descriptions of underwater life that I unconsciously relaxed my muscles. Instead of being held buoyant by the water that so vividly surrounded me in my mind, I plummeted to the ground and knocked myself out. I can still feel the scar under my fringe now. Reading can be dangerous.)

As for you, you are alive. But it's not the same as living.