Stories make you think and dream; books make you want to ask questions.

He never reckoned much to schooling and that. He said you could learn most what was worth knowing from keeping your eyes and ears peeled. Best way of learning, he always said, was doing.

I write fiction. I make things up, it's what I do.

Any story you write about war, or film you make about war, is bound to be political whether you like it or not.

I'm still not sure I want to be a writer. I think of myself as a storyteller more.

I was brought up, as a lot of kids are, on 'Aesop's Fables,' 'Brothers Grimm,' 'La Fontaine,' all those sorts of things. Hans Christian Andersen is a hero of mine.

That's what this war is all about, my friend. It's about which of us is the crazier.And clearly you British have an advantage.You were crazy beforehand.