You don't ask people about the immigration policies of the U.K. or their country's agricultural policy. Instead, you talk to them about the meal they're eating or their family, and from that you get the sense of another human being, someone we can all relate to.

I always wanted to be an explorer, but - it seemed I was doomed to be nothing more than a very silly person.

I've never particularly liked travelling with large groups or being told where to go by somebody else. I prefer to find out for myself.

If atheists are deaf to the word of God, then theists are blind to the ways of man.

I have been unusually blessed in that I've been allowed to pursue two strands of a career that both delight me and seem to please the public.

I am restless. I don't mind leaving this comfortable, static life. I could live a year on my own in a remote village.

I saw novelists as being admirable people and I thought... I thought... maybe, one day, I could be one of them.