Bad luck for both of us, we are both boulder-pushers.

If a fish is the movement of water embodied, given shape, then cat is a diagram and pattern of subtle air.

I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one. I'm delighted to win them all, the whole lot.

With a library you are free, not confined by temporary political climates. It is the most democratic of institutions because no one - but no one at all - can tell you what to read and when and how.

I'm very unhappy when I'm not writing.

I often feel like a dinosaur. I don't get the technology thing at all. I was on the Internet not long ago for Barnes and Noble, and people were ringing up from all over the world - Australia, Canada, France. I experienced it as an informal chat, which was pleasant, but I couldn't quite take it in. It had a strong element of unreality. I can't be bothered to switch to a computer at my age, though I might get along with e-mail, which sounds appealing.

Our society is dependent on some precarious mechanisms, and they are very dicey. They can easily collapse.