You have to be practical. So every time I say, if you want to write a novel you have to be practical, people get bored. They are disappointed. They are expecting a more dynamic, creative, artistic thing to say. What I want to say is: you have to be practical.

Never trust a man who carries a handkerchief, I always say. One of many prejudicial rules of thumb.

Judging the mistakes of strangers is an easy thing to do - and it feels pretty good.

No matter what you tell me, no matter how legitimate your reasons, I can never just forget about you, I can never push the years we spent together out of my mind. I can't do it because it really happened, they are part of my life, and there is no way I can just erase them. That would be the same as erasing my own self.

I can't understand nothingness. I can't understand it and I can't imagine it.

Nights without work I spend with whisky and books.

The others in the dorm thought I wanted to be a writer, because I was always alone with a book, but I had no such ambition. There was nothing I wanted to be.