Don't move," said Sprockett."Mimes don't generally attack unless they are threatened.

Maybe those sorts of yes-or-no life-and-death decisions are easier to make because they are so black and white. I can cope with them because it's easier. Human emotions, well. . .they're just a fathomless collection of grays and I don't do so well on the midtones.

Individual words, sounds, squiggles on paper with no meanings other than those with which our imagination can clothe them.

I still feel threatened by academics, but my books have a lot of academic in-jokes and everybody assumes I went to university and studied English.

Sometimes I don't know whether I'm thening or nowing.

I don't need you to agree with me," she said quietly." I'll go away happy with a little bit of doubt. Doubt is good. It's an emotion we can build on. Perhaps if we feed it with curiosity it will blossom into something useful, like suspicion - and action.

Failure concentrates the mind wonderfully. If you don't make mistakes, you're not trying hard enough.