You say you’re sure? Sure that you’re in love? How can you know it? You think love is so simple?

Every country should have a strong literary tradition of its own at the center, but it should also have an interest in other countries.

I was a little concerned that a lot of people thought I wrote Merchant Ivory movies. I also thought if I was ever going to write something strange and difficult, that was the time.

I don't have a deep link with England like, say, Jonathan Coe or Hanif Kureishi might demonstrate. For me it is like a mythical place.

I can't even say I made my own mistakes. Really - one has to ask oneself - what dignity is there in that?

The world is crawling with authors touring now. They're like performance artists.

Perhaps one day, all these conflicts will end, and it won't be because of great statesmen or churches or organisations like this one. It'll be because people have changed. They'll be like you, Puffin. More a mixture. So why not become a mongrel? It's healthy.