I had no sense of any reputation that What a Carve Up! might acquire - at the time I didnt even have a publisher, so my main worry was whether it was even going to see the light of day or not.

I like the rain before it falls. of course there is no such thing, she said. That's why it's my favorite. Something can still make you happy, can't it, even if it isn't real.

I'm one of those unlucky people who had a happy childhood.

The writer I feel the most affinity with - you said you felt my books are 19th century novels, I think they're 18th century novels - is Fielding, Henry Fielding, he's the guy who does it for me.

Objectivity is just male subjectivity.

You would go mad if you began to speculate about the impact your novel might have while you were still writing it.

Writers never feel comfortable having labels attached to them, however accurate they are.

Contemporary Britain seems an endlessly fascinating place to me - but if I knew a little bit more about other places, and other times, maybe it wouldn't.

Some people don't realize that a straight 'No' can be the kindest answer in the world.

Ah, well, I have no talent for nonfiction, that's my problem.

For many weeks after [my wife] died, I could not get used to the feeling of coldness and lifelessness on her side of the bed - and it was even worse when they took the body away and buried her.

When he kissed me, his lips soft and careful, it was all the thrill of our first kiss and all the practiced familiarity of the accumulated memory of all our kisses.

Truth is Evidence of Love. And, Nothing Can Stop the Power of Trusting and Loving Unconditionally.

Fact is is always truth but truth is not always fact

I get a warm feeling among my books.

Once people stop believing in God, the problem is not that they will believe in nothing; rather, the problem is that they will believe anything.

You said I am a good man," he said. "But I am not that good a man. And I am--I am catastrophically in love with you.

Once you discover white paint, you'll never wash your underwear again.

The goal of theology is the worship of God. The posture of theology is on one's knees. The mode of theology is repentance.

If you can win complete mastery over self, you will easily master all else. To triumph over self is the perfect victory.

We approach the divine by enlarging our souls and lighting up our brains.