Poetry, I thought then, and still do, is a matter of space on the page interrupted by a few well-chosen words, to give them importance. Prose is a less grand affair which has to stretch to the edges of the page to be convincing.

Nothing happens, and nothing happens, and then everything happens.

There is no real escape from autobiography into biography. The self has to be faced, or we die.

Marriage is what happens when one at least of the partners doesn't want the other to get away.

Food is the supremest of pleasures.

The prophets of doom, in my experience, are generally ignored and usually right.

You will find that women who are pregnant often don't want to be and women who aren't desperately envy those who are. Labour wards are always full of very punitive people.