A collection of short stories is generally thought to be a horrendous clinker; an enforced courtesy for the elderly writer who wants to display the trophies of his youth, along with his trout flies.

A lonely man is a lonesome thing, a stone, a bone, a stick, a receptacle for Gilbey's gin, a stooped figure sitting at the edge of a hotel bed, heaving copious sighs like the autumn wind.

It was a splendid summer morning and it seemed as if nothing could go wrong.

All literary men are Red Sox fans - to be a Yankee fan in a literate society is to endanger your life.

That's the way I remember them, heading for an exit.

Fear tastes like a rusty knife and do not let her into your house.

Fiction is art and art is the triumph over chaos… to celebrate a world that lies spread out around us like a bewildering and stupendous dream.

Art is the triumph over chaos.

Homesickness is nothing. Fifty percent of the people in the world are homesick all the time.

I've been homesick for countries I've never been, and longed to be where I couldn't be.

Then it is dark; it is a night where kings in golden suits ride elephants over the mountains.

Weakness is what brings ignorance, cheapness, racism, homophobia, desperation, cruelty, brutality, all these things that will keep a society chained to the ground, one foot nailed to the floor.

Art is not meant to be created in stolen moments only.

Life is the game that must be played.

All art is propaganda; on the other hand, not all propaganda is art.

Religion is the solid basis of good morals; therefore education should teach the precepts of religion, and the duties of man toward God.

I would say that teleology is theology, and that God is not a "because," but rather an "in order to.

It's a joy to actually be able to control your own music.

I think we could do with being a little more adventurous in certain areas and push on that little bit more, while a bit of luck also wouldn't go amiss.

If you want to create wealth, it is imperative that you believe that you are at the steering wheel of life, especially your financial life.

I appreciate that young girls look up to me. And I take that very seriously.