I still think most writers are just kids who refuse to grow up. We're still playing imaginary games, with our imaginary friends.

A good album should be more than the sum of its parts.

Rebus was eating breakfast in the canteen and wishing there was more caffeine in the coffee, or more coffee in the coffee come to that.

You wouldn't think you could kill an ocean, would you? But we'll do it one day. That's how negligent we are.

At all times, think like a writer, and keep those antennae twitching - that way, you pick up new ideas.

No matter how many awards you've won or how many sales you've got, come the next book it's still a blank sheet of paper and you're still panicking like hell that you've got nothing new to say.

It was the laughter of birthdays, of money found in an old pocket.

[About a tiresome colleague]: He could bore for Scotland.

War created bizarre allies, while peace itself could be divisive.

I don't have many friends. It's not because I'm a misanthrope. It's because I'm reserved. I'm self-contained. I get all my adventures in my head when I'm writing my books.

I am, of course, a frustrated rock star - I'd much rather be a rock star than a writer. Or own a record shop. Still, it's not a bad life, is it? You just sit at a computer and make stuff up.

Magda looks at me as if I've gone mad. Or I've grown up. It's kind of the same thing.

It's great working with my sister, because we are very close as a family - my brother, my sister and myself. We have a great relationship.

I leave off mid-sentence, and then can finish it the next day with less anxiety expended than for a new thought.

I live to harass white folks.

The history of the world is the world's court of justice.

To explore different parts of yourself and different emotional lives... not to hide from who you are but to actually explore who you are.

At the end of 1795 and beginning of 1796, I was ordered to write to the Church ministers.

We have sought for firm ground and found none. The deeper we penetrate, the more restless becomes the universe; all is rushing about and vibrating in a wild dance.

The lie is, even if you do work out, you'll never look like Madonna. That's the lie.

Here we are standing face to face, isn't this world a crazy place, just when I thought the chance had passed, you go and save the best for last.