I am not afraid of dying. I have lived longer than most people in the world. What scares me is to have a body that works but a brain that is waving goodbye. If that happens, I hope I die quickly.

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.

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

Police work wouldn't be possible without coffee," Wallander said. "No work would be possible without coffee." They pondered the importance of coffee in silence.

An oppressed people will always rise.

Life is a flimsy branch over an abyss.

The stories I create are never as awful as reality.