You think you're writing one historical novel and it turns into three, and I'm quite used to a short story turning into a novel - that's happened through my whole career.

For what's the point of breeding children, if each generation does not improve on what went before.

A novel should be a book of questions, not a book of answers.

There's a feeling of power in reserve, a power that drives right through the bone, like the shiver you sense in the shaft of an axe when you take it into your hand. You can strike, or you can not strike, and if you choose to hold back the blow, you can still feel inside you the resonance of the omitted thing.

If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don't just stick there scowling at the problem. But don't make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people's words will pour in where your lost words should be.

In order to successfully impersonate men, the woman [Margaret Thatcher] launched a war.

My concern is less the monarchy as such than the attempt of a fading colonial power to hang onto grandeur.