One of the agonies of being an author is to know when to stop writing.

‎Not having time for a person, not being able to sit in silence together with somebody, that's the same as rejecting them, as being scornful about them.

Go to Mozambique! As long as you don't expect to find flawless infrastructure, just go. Because this is a country where people have not quite grown accustomed to tourists. You still feel a genuineness that no longer exists in countries where tourism has been industrially developed.

I love Sherlock Holmes. There's still an awful lot to steal from Conan Doyle. But within a tradition you can work in many different ways.

Africa was the most exotic place I could conceive of - the end of the world - and I knew I would go there one day.

An oppressed people will always rise.

When someone asks me to list the 10 best novels ever written, I always refuse to answer.