I'm not fond of cities: the constant activity and swarms of people.

Sheep are not the docile, pleasant creatures of the pastoral idyll. Any countryman will tell you that. They are sly, occasionally vicious, pathologically stupid. The lenient shepherd may find his flock unruly, definant. I cannot afford to be lenient.

The great thing about books is that you can end with a question mark.

Online communities are an expression of loneliness.

The past is an obdurate stranger that puts as many marks on us as we attempt to impose on it.

I carried recipes in my head like maps.

Anything based on ancient texts is difficult for a modern reader to get their head around.