I'm not religious, and I'm not a Christian, but I do reserve the right to believe in the possibility of a god.

You searched through all my poets, From Sappho through to Auden, I saw the book fall from your hands, As you slowly died of boredom.

My biggest fear is losing memory because memory is what we are. Your very soul and your very reason to be alive is tied up in memory.

The more information you have, the more human our heroes become and consequently the less mysterious and godlike. They need to be godlike.

If you're Australian, you feel it in your bones because you're at odds with everybody else, except other Australians, in the sense that people always seem to be behaving strangely. People always seem to be behaving the wrong way, in a different way. You say things and there are silences.

I'm very happy to hear that my work inspires writers and painters. It's the most beautiful compliment, the greatest reward. Art should always be an exchange.

To my undying shame, I do read reviews. I don't read them all, but I like to get some kind of idea how things are going.