The sending of a letter constitutes a magical grasp upon the future.

How different each death is, and yet it leads us into the self-same country, that country which we inhabit so rarely, where we see the worthlessness of what we have long pursued and will so soon return to pursuing.

They are universal places, like churches, hallowed meeting places of all mankind.

The notion that one can liberate another soul from captivity is an illusion of the very young.

He was a sociologist; he had got into an intellectual muddle early on in life and never managed to get out.

People have obsessions and fears and passions which they don't admit to. I think every character is interesting and has extremes. It's the novelist privilege to see how odd everyone is.

Bereavement is a darkness impenetrable to the imagination of the unbereaved