To know you will be lonely is not the same as being lonely.

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

I don't separate my books into historical novels and the rest. To me, they're all made-up worlds, and both kinds are borne out of curiosity, some investigation into the past.

One has to be able to twist and change and distort characters, play with them like clay, so everything fits together. Real people don't permit you to do that.

Swimming always cleans your soul

To know you will be lonely is not the same as being lonely.

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.