Do not imagine that Art is something which is designed to give gentle uplift and self-confidence . Art is not a brassiere. At least, not in the English sense. But do not forget that brassiere is the French word for life-jacket.

We live on the flat, on the level, and yet - and so - we aspire. Groundlings, we can sometimes reach as far as the gods. Some soar with art, others with religion; most with love. But when we soar, we can also crash. There are few soft landings. We may find ourselves bouncing across the ground with leg-fracting force, dragged towards some foreign railway line. Every love story is a potential grief story. If not at first, then later. If not for one, then for the other. Sometimes, for both.

Grief seems at first to destroy not just all patterns, but also to destroy a belief that a pattern exists.

Writers of either gender ought to be able to do the opposite sex-that's one basic test of competence, after all.

To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness.

I don't believe in God, but I miss him.

In 1980, I published my first novel, in the usual swirl of unjustified hope and justified anxiety.