One way of looking at speech is to say it is a constant stratagem to cover nakedness.

A writer's life is a highly vulnerable, almost naked activity. We don't have to weep about that. The writer makes his choice and is stuck with it. But it is true to say that you are open to all the winds, some of them icy indeed. You are out on your own, out on a limb. You find no shelter, no protection - unless you lie - in which case of course you have constructed your own protection and, it could be argued, become a politician.

I ought not to speak about the dead because the dead are all over the place.

The Room I wrote in 1957, and I was really gratified to find that it stood up. I didn't have to change a word.

The Companion of Honour I regarded as an award from the country for 50 years of work - which I thought was okay.

It's so easy for propaganda to work, and dissent to be mocked.

If Milosevic is to be tried, he has to be tried by a proper court, an impartial, properly constituted court which has international respect.