Everything was usual. That was depression: being stuck, clinging to an out-of-date version of oneself.

It seems people spend the majority of their lives believing they're dying, with the only consolation being that at one point they get to be right.

Looking after children can be a subtle way of giving up... They become the whole ones, the well ones, the postponement of happiness, the ones who won't drink too much, give up, get divorced, become mentally ill. The part of oneself that's fighting against decay and depression is transferred to guarding them from decay and depression. In the meantime one decays and gets depressed.

The whole Melrose series is an attempt to tell the truth, and is based on the idea that there is some salutary or liberating power in telling the truth.

I see the author as the person who has written; the writer, the one involved in the process of writing. And they're not necessarily friends. The writer is the one I want to reinforce; the author would just feed on the reviews - so I'm in favour of starving him.

No pain is too small if it hurts, but any pain is too big if it's cherished.

It's no use imagining that bringing great writers together inevitably precipitates great conversation.