Africa gives you the knowledge that man is a small creature, among other creatures, in a large landscape.

In the writing process, the more the story cooks, the better. The brain works for you even when you are at rest. I find dreams particularly useful. I myself think a great deal before I go to sleep and the details sometimes unfold in the dream.

I've always disliked words like inspiration. Writing is probably like a scientist thinking about some scientific problem, or an engineer about an engineering problem.

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

My father was always so mingled with rage at his life.

Mother's room, and mother's need for privacy become a valuable lesson in respect for other people's rights.

I think I am at the end of a certain phase of my life. What I'm on the lookout for now is the unexpected, for things that come from outside and that I never thought might happen. Sometimes you have to watch for them so you don't automatically say no to the new, simply because you're in the habit of saying no to everything that comes along. I'm constantly changing my perspective on my own life. I see the past differently, and that's a wonderful thing.