The measure of civilized behavior is compassion.

My house is a place I have spent many years improving to the point where I have no desire to leave it.

I like the idea of isolation, I like the idea of solitude. You can be connected and have a phone and still be lonely.

You define a good flight by negatives: you didn't get hijacked, you didn't crash, you didn't throw up, you weren't late, you weren't nauseated by the food. So you are grateful.

Literary life used to be quite different in Britain in the years I lived there, from 1971 to 1989, because money was not a factor - no one made very much except from U.S. sales and the occasional windfall.

Basically, what you find out is the limits of your patience and your strength and your capacity to adapt. You find that out in travel and being alone and being tested. So that's a great thing.

The Japanese have perfected good manners and made them indistinguishable from rudeness.