And though you think the world is at your feet, it can rise up and tread on you.

You can tell a lot from a person's nails. When a life starts to unravel, they're among the first to go.

None of us really either know the circumstances of our death or are likely to exert as much control over it as we would like to, but we can certainly have a little more say in it if we are terminally ill than we have at the moment. That's the element of dignity, but sure, life is very hard to organise even when you are fit and healthy.

I've never had a moment's doubt. I love you. I believe in you completely. You are my dearest one. My reason for life.

These were everyday sounds magnified by darkness. And darkness was nothing - it was not a substance, it was not a presence, it was no more than an absence of light.

Twenty years ago I might have hired a professional listener, but somewhere along the way I had lost faith in the talking cure. A genteel fraud in my view.

There are ways in which art can have a longer reach than politics.