His eyes beheld beauty not in reality but in the printed word. Standing in the waiting-room, he realized that in his life he had accepted secondary experience -- the experience of reading someone else's thoughts -- over real life.

You need a great idea, but then you've got to carry it through. If you get it right, you're going to be a critical success. But not everyone who works hard gets it right, or has the success they deserve: there's an element of luck.

I'm interested in Scotland now and then, how it's changed. I want to get the reader to think about that by thinking about something from the past. How has society changed, how has policing changed, have we changed philosophically, psychologically, culturally, spiritually?

A good album should be more than the sum of its parts.

I still think most writers are just kids who refuse to grow up. We're still playing imaginary games, with our imaginary friends.

War created bizarre allies, while peace itself could be divisive.

[About a tiresome colleague]: He could bore for Scotland.