The secret to writing is writing. Lots of people I know talk about writing. They will tell me about the book they are going to write, or are thinking about writing, or may write some day in the future. And I know they will never do it. If someone is serious about writing, then they will sit down every day and put some words down on paper.

And once begun, change cannot be reversed.

Once you have been touched by magic, you are forever changed. You leave a trail.

He who retreats lives longer.

There is no such thing as an appropriate joke. That's why it's a joke.

A boy and a girl, dressed in the T-shirts and denim that are the shabby uniform of this age.

One of the oldest secrets of alchemy is that every living thing, from the most complex creatures right down to the simplest leaf, carries the seeds of its creation within itself.