I like having my back pressed against a wall and being made to work harder so I don't embarrass myself.

Fiction that responds to recent world events is a hostage to fortune because all momentous events look very different a year, two years, three years later.

Most of my work consisted of crossing out. Crossing out was the secret of all good writing.

I read very, very little fiction as a kid. All the books I can remember are junior science books.

It exasperated her sometimes. The way men could be so sure of themselves. They put words together like sheds or shelves and you could stand on them they were so solid. And those feelings which overwhelmed you in the small hours turned to smoke.

Usually people look at you when they're talking to you. I know that they're working out what I'm thinking, but I can't tell what they're thinking. It is like being in a room with a one-way mirror in a spy film.

Show me the artist anywhere who's had an utterly stable mental life, and I'll buy you hot dinners for the rest of your life.