There's something with the physical size of America... American writers can write about America and it can still feel like a foreign country.

Everyone has learning difficulties, because learning to speak French or understanding relativity is difficult.

There was a time in my life when I was going in and out of houses that were extraordinarily different - from a working-class terrace in Northampton to the homes of friends who were really very wealthy. It was quite an odd position to be in, I realise looking back, and quite a nice one.

You love someone, you've got to let something go.

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.

Science and literature give me answers. And they ask me questions I will never be able to answer.

I think one of the things you have to learn if you're going to create believable characters is never to make generalizations about groups of people.