The traditional metaphor for a spiritual investigation is that of the voyage or the journey. From this image I must dissociate myself. I do not consider myself a voyager, I have preferred to stand still.

A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world.

The culture-heroes of our liberal bourgeois civilisation are ant-liberal and ant-bourgeois . . .

What I really wanted was every kind of life, and the writer’s life seemed the most inclusive.

It's hard not to be afraid. Be less afraid.

When you are writing, you are - from society's point of view - only producing the first version which will then be processed and recycled.

It hurts to love. It's like giving yourself to be flayed and knowing that at any moment the other person may just walk off with your skin.