And indeed nothing had happened, a momentous nothing, just another of the great world's shrugs of indifference.

In my books you have to concentrate, but I work hard to make it that, when you do, the rewards are quite high.

To take possession of a city of which you are not a native you must first fall in love there.

How flat all sounds are at the seaside, flat and yet emphatic, like the sound of gunshots heard at a distance.

I would be far more critical than any reviewer could be of my own work. So I simply don't read them.

I live in Dublin, God knows why. There are greatly more congenial places I could have settled in - Italy, France, Manhattan - but I like the climate here, and Irish light seems to be essential for me and for my writing.

Ian McEwan is a very good writer; the first half of Atonement alone would ensure him a lasting place in English letters.