I'm not sure if you're the person for me any more.

But surely to tell these tall tales and others like them would be to spread the myth, the wicked lie, that the past is always tense and the future, perfect.

English fiction was something I loved growing up, and it changed my life - it changed the trajectory of my life.

But it makes an immigrant laugh to hear the fears of the nationalist, scared of infection, penetration, miscegenation, when this is small fry, peanuts, compared to what the immigrant fears - dissolution, disappearance.

All tastes are expressions of belief.

Anyone over the age of thirty catching a bus can consider himself a failure.

Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand - but tell it.