When you have children, your perspective on the parent-child relationship alters.

A man who catches History's eye is thereafter bound to a mistress from whom he will never escape.

What I've always seen in writers and artists is the courage it takes to make an original work of art. I think the real risks in literature are linguistic and intellectual, and I hope we can highlight those, as well as political courage.

People don't like being around despair. Our tolerance for the truly hopeless, for those who are irredeemably broken by life is strictly limited. The sob stories we like are the ones that end before we're bored.

I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire.

A sigh isn't just a sigh. We inhale the world and breathe out meaning. While we can. While we can.

If I were dead, then nobody in England would have to fuss about the cost of my security and whether or not I merited such special treatment for so long.