[Boxer is] the ultimate tool for the serious pro' that can't afford the time and patience to mess around with lesser products.

Of all human activities, writing is the one for which it is easiest to find excuses not to begin – the desk’s too big, the desk’s too small, there’s too much noise, there’s too much quiet, it’s too hot, too cold, too early, too late. I had learned over the years to ignore them all, and simply to start.

By dawn he had surrendered, gratefully, to the old inertia, the product of always seeing both sides of every question.

Suicide leaves everyone feeling guilty.

For me, as I suspect for most people, there comes a point where you have enough. If you've got £20 million, why keep going until you've got £100 million or £1,000 million? Does anyone need another vast yacht or private jet or a house full of gold?

It's when you've stopped writing and are doing other things, especially when you're asleep, that the real work is done.

I've always just wanted to earn my living by writing. The best thing is to go into my study in the morning and stay there and put words together.