I hope my books make statements about our general condition.

The trouble was, if you were a chief you had to think, you had to be wise.

Maybe half a dozen think they are a community, but, in general terms, I think English writers tend to face outwards, away from each other, and write in their own patch, as it were.

I suppose I'd have to say that my favourite author is Homer. After Homer's Ilaid, I'd name The Odyssey, and then I'd mention a number of plays of Euripides.

Ralph... would treat the day's decisions as though he were playing chess. The only trouble was that he would never be a very good chess player.

We're not savages. We're English.

If I blow the conch and they don't come back; then we've had it. We shan't keep the fire going. We'll be like animals. We'll never be rescued." "If you don't blow, we'll soon be animals anyway.