Each new book is a tremendous challenge.

I generally wade in blind and trust to fate and instinct to see me through.

Fear and I were old buddies, despite my best efforts to the contrary.

Intellectual labor is a common technique for the avoidance of thinking.

The world is full of ghosts, and some of them are still people.

What was the worst thing you've ever done? I won't tell you that, but I'll tell you the worst thing that ever happened to me...the most dreadful thing.

My first real breakthrough collided with the last months of Callaghan's Labour government, which had every intention of enjoying my success as much as I did.

Occasionally.. .what you have to do is go back to the beginning and see everything in a new way.

If I planned everything out in advance, I'd expire of boredom.

An average working day begins at 8 or 9 am, includes an hour for lunch, and ends at 5 or 6 pm.

I had a connoisseur's... appreciation of fear.

There was no one to complain to in the woods, so I did not complain, ' Knight said.

Freedom without structure is its own slavery.

Laughter and irony are at heart reminders that we are not prisoners in this world, but voyagers through it.

I'm kind of all over the place, and I need grounding.

there was not a tree on the place, only the horrible prickly pear bushes thrusting out their distorted arms as if exulting in their own nakedness.

In solitude the lonely man is eaten up by himself, among crowds by the many.

A good forgettery is a happier possession than a good memory.

One can't write without having read - you have to read before beginning to write - and universities offer a very good opportunity to read.

If you make it sound too much like a synth, it will just sound like a guitar part played on a synth.