I do not envy people who think they have a complete explanation of the world, for the simple reason that they are obviously wrong.

A thing that happens to migrants is that they lose many of the traditional things which root identity, which root the self.

He knew what he knew: that the real world was full of magic, so magical worlds could easily be real.

We were language's magpies by nature, stealing whatever sounded bright and shiny.

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist. Without the freedom to challenge, even to satirize all orthodoxies, it ceases to exist. Language and the imagination cannot be imprisoned, or art will die, and with it, a little of what makes us human.

The liveliness of literature lies in its exceptionality, in being the individual, idiosyncratic vision of one human being, in which, to our delight and great surprise, we may find our own vision reflected.

Make as much racket as you like people. Noise is life and an excess of noise is a sign that life is good. There will be time for us all to be quiet when we are safely dead.