Being famous as a writer is like being famous in a village. It's not really any very heady fame.

I'm interested in where we are, where we're going, where we've come from.

And it's always possible that you will not get a nice review. So - and that's enraging of course, to get a bad review, you can't talk back, and it's sort of shaming in a way.

I did not know that history is like a blood stain that keeps on showing on the wall no matter how many new owners take possession, no matter how many times we pint over it.

People do not love those whose eyes show that they are somewhere else

Living where I live New York I don't think anyone's going to make a fuss. But it is more deeply satisfying because it's of your place and means that you aren't forgotten; someone's noticed what you have been doing with your life.

Good writing of course requires talent, and no one can teach you to have talent.