In terms of essays, I would say Oliver Sacks. His breadth of hard knowledge and imagination and empathy seems to constitute the perfect mind to me.

To my astonishment, when Wolf Hall came out, people asked if I made it up - [Thomas More] burning of heretics. It was well documented. And he was proud of it! The Brits love lost causes.

As a writer, you owe it to yourself not to get stuck in a rut of looking at the world in a certain way.

Imagine the consequences of having the first woman prime minister who is the milk snatcher. [Margaret Thatcher] takes away the nourishment of the nation.

When you become published and become a reviewer, piles of books come along and you are pushed by fashion and what you are commissioned to do.

By the tits of Holy Agnes

[Margaret] Thatcher could fake her class background, but she couldn't fake the quality of her mind.