Many different substances, as distinct to the practiced eye as stone and wood, go to the making of a novel, and it is necessary to see them for what they are.

The art of fiction does not begin until the novelist thinks of his story as a matter to be shown, to be so exhibited that it will tell itself.

In fiction there can be no appeal to any authority outside the book itself. . . . the thing has to look true, and that is all. It is not made to look true by simple statement.

Even at the moment when the last page is turned, a great part of the book, its finer detail, is already vague and doubtful. A little later, after a few days or months, how much is really left of it?

The shot was so precise that the bullet went out his forehead and shattered a whisky bottle against the wall behind the counter.

Human successes like human failures are composed of one action at a time and achieved by one person at a time.

In music I do not look for logic. I am quite intuitive on the whole and know no theories. I never like a work if I cannot intuitively grasp its inner unity (architecture).

But when alcohol comes in, start running. Because there's a demon there, and it goes back to her childhood.

You stick your head above the crowd and attract attention and sometimes somebody will throw a rock at you. That's the territory. You buy the land, you get the Indians.

For a true writer each book should be a new beginning, where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment.

I don't really play overseas stuff. I'm a bit of a dinosaur in that way. You gonna improve on a Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster? Those are perfect designs, and there is nothing to add really.

We cannot talk simultaneously about animal rights and the 'humane' slaughter of animals.

We have to change our culture so you can create wealth from making things and don't just try to make money out of money

Now I can see I was at fault for not being more considerate, but when we were doing the show I didn't think it was my job to be considerate to other people.