Some people don't realize that a straight 'No' can be the kindest answer in the world.

It seems to me that you would have to write a novel on a very small, intimate scale for it not to become political.

Ah, well, I have no talent for nonfiction, that's my problem.

Sometimes I feel that I am destined always to be offstage whenever the main action occurs. That God has made me the victim of some cosmic practical joke, by assigning me little more than a walk-on part in my own life. Or sometimes I feel that my role is simply to be a spectator to other people's stories, and always to wander away at the most important moment, drifiting into the kitchen to make a cup of tea just as the denouement unfolds.

Thatcherism has become bigger than she ever was.

But at the same time, I have trouble keeping things out of books, which is why I don't write short stories because they turn into novels.

The more melancholy side of my literary personality is much in tune with BS Johnson's.