We are a pluralist civilisation because we allow mosques to be built in our countries, and we are not going to stop simply because Christian missionaries are thrown into prison in Kabul. If we did so, we too would become Taliban.

A mystic is a hysteric who has met her confessor before her doctor.

I think a book should be judged 10 years later, after reading and re-reading it.

Since I became a novelist I have discovered that I am biased. Either I think a new novel is worse than mine and I don’t like it, or I suspect it is better than my novels and I don’t like it.

History is rich with adventurous men, long on charisma, with a highly developed instinct for their own interests, who have pursued personal power - bypassing parliaments and constitutions, distributing favours to their minions, and conflating their own desires with the interests of the community.

Not that the incredulous person doesn't believe in anything. It's just that he doesn't believe in everything.

Better reality than a dream: if something is real, then it's real and you're not to blame.