There's always this sense of incredulity that writers feel, because they're usually living flat and ordinary lives, because they have to.

I am a person who continually destroys the possibilities of a future because of the numbers of alternative viewpoints I can focus on the present.

One certainty we all accept is the condition of being uncertain and insecure.

I'm always astounded at the way we automatically look at what divides and separates us. We never look at what people have in common.

Time and distance from the first and second world wars doesn't seem to lessen their horrors.

All one's life as a young woman one is on show, a focus of attention, people notice you. You set yourself up to being noticed and admired. And then, not expecting it, you become middle-aged and anonymous.

When old settlers say 'One has to understand the country,' what they mean is, 'You have to get used to our ideas about the native.' They are saying in effect, 'Learn our ideas, or otherwise get out; we don't want you.'