Become such as you are, having learned what that is.

He was born a politician. No, Ursula thought, he was born a baby, like everyone else. And this is what he has chosen to become.

The beginning is the word and the end is silence. And in between are all the stories.

I am mad, I think. I am mad therefore I think. I am mad therefore I think I am.

I can't imagine what it would be like to write in a relaxed state. I'm going to be writing some stories for my own interest. I want to experiment with different things and see if I can approach writing with much less control and in a better psychological state. It will be like breaking out of a straitjacket.

If they would all sleep all the time she wouldn't mind being their mother.

Everyone said, 'Well, you're very old for a first novel,' and I said, 'How do you write when you haven't lived? How do you write when you have no experience? How do you write straight out of university?