Becoming a writer is not a 'career decision' like becoming a doctor or a policeman. You don't choose it so much as get chosen, and once you accept the fact that you're not fit for anything else, you have to be prepared to walk a long, hard road for the rest of your days.

There's love, and certainly children you care about more than yourself. But nevertheless, we're alone in our heads.

There are two kinds of typical days. There's the typical day when I'm writing a novel, and there's the typical day when I'm not.

I was always very curious as a young man about why older writers who I met seemed so indifferent to what was going on, whereas I, in my 20s, was reading everything. Everything seemed important. But they were only interested in the writers they admired when they were young, and I didn't understand it then, but now, now I understand it.

Reason and memory are nearly always at odds.

To feel estranged from language is to lose your own body.

It often happens that things are other than what they seem, and you can get yourself into trouble by jumping to conclusions.