I think the U.K. is too small to write about from within it and still make it seem foreign and exotic and interesting.

And because there is something they can’t see people think it has to be special, because people always think there is something special about what they can’t see, like the dark side of the moon, or the other side of a black hole, or in the dark when they wake up at night and they’re scared.

As a kid, I didn't read a great deal of fiction, and I've forgotten most of what I did read.

I think most writers feel like they're on the outside looking in much of the time... All of us feel, to a certain extent, alienated from the stuff going on around us.

I was born too late for steam trains and a lazy eye meant I'd never be an astronaut.

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

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