a swell of gratitude and appreciation for his assistant, as opposed to the murderous rage he felt toward the rest of his staff

I'm a dogged person. I respond to adversity with a steely resistance.

I think the one thing that's changed over time is that I've come to realise, as a fiction writer, the fact that I don't think it will work out, doesn't mean that it actually won't.

I know I'm famous and irresitible - a combination whose properties closely resemble radioactivity - and I know that you in this room are helpless against me.

I did go on safari in Kenya when I was 17, with my mother, stepfather and little brother, and I kept a careful journal of the experience that was very helpful in terms of my sensory impressions of Africa. I have traveled quite a bit at distinct times in my life, though now that I have kids I've settled down.

I guess it's always romantic when two people fall in love.... Even if it turns out not to be real.

...water laughing softly down a black stone wall.