And then I thought that I had to be like Sherlock Holmes and I had to detach my mind at will to a remarkable degree so that I did not notice how much it was hurting inside my head.

I think people believe in heaven because they don't like the idea of dying, because they want to carry on living and they don't like the idea that other people will move into their house and put their things into the rubbish.

The way of creating believable characters is not by conforming to a set of PC rules.

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

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

I do not like strangers because I do not like people I have never met before. They are hard to understand.

All the other children at my school are stupid. Except I'm not meant to call them stupid, even though this is what they are.