Part of the very impulse of writing for me is actually wanting to get away from myself.

My mother was a great bringer-up of children. My memories are of a sense of security and comfort.

Children, be curious. Nothing is worse (I know it) than when curiosity stops. Nothing is more repressive than the repression of curiosity. Curiosity begets love. It weds us to the world. It's part of our perverse, madcap love for this impossible planet we inhabit. People die when curiosity goes. People have to find out, people have to know.

I think what I like to do is to begin with the ordinary and find the extraordinary in it.

Of course there are times when I hate London, but equally there are times when I can walk 'round a corner and I really feel that this is my place.

How quick and rushing life can sometimes seem, when at the same time it's so slow and sweet and everlasting.

The real art is not to come up with extraordinary clever words but to make ordinary simple words do extraordinary things. To use the language that we all use and to make amazing things occur.