I know who I am, I know what I'm for, and I know what I'm willing to fight for.

If you take a look at history, you will find that the understanding of what is good and evil has always existed before the individual religions. The religions were only invented by people afterwards, in order to express this idea.

But I - and I just think it's very - one of the problems of defending the extraordinary principle of freedom of speech is that you have to defend freedom of speech for people like that too.

I have to say that after some initial resistance, I'm now a complete 'Game of Thrones' addict.

The question I'm always asking myself is: are we masters or victims? Do we make history, or does history make us? Do we shape the world, or are we just shaped by it? The question of do we have agency in our lives or whether we are just passive victims of events is, I think, a great question, and one that I have always tried to ask.

We are the only animals that tell stories to understand the world we live in.

I've always prided myself on my discipline as a writer. I do it like a job. I get up in the morning and go to my desk.