My view is that to get anywhere in life you have to be anti-social, otherwise you'll end up being devoured. I've never been particularly social, anyway, but if I've ever been rude, fifty per cent of it has usually been provoked by other people's attitudes. Though I do admit, like most Celts, I'm moody. It's fine until people try to cheer you up with gems like, 'snap out of it' or 'Come on, now'.

How peaceful life would be without love. How safe, how tranquil and how dull.

I don't understand if you get caught in a fight, but take it out on a room, how that implies some psychiatric disorder.

I haven't found anywhere in the world where I want to be all the time. The best of my life is the moving. I look forward to going.

To cultivate an English accent is already a departure away from what you are.

I left Scotland when I was 16 because I had no qualifications for anything but the Navy, having left school at 13.

You write your first draft with your heart and you re-write with your head. The first key to writing is to write, not to think.