Of mystery there is no end. Of clarity, there is precious little.

Some animals are secretive; some are shy. A cat is private.

Stories should be natural as apples, brief as lust, long as a thought.

Looking at a cat, like looking at clouds or stars or the ocean, makes it difficult to believe there is nothing miraculous in this world.

There's hardly anywhere in literature where you don't find a triangle.

There is always something for which there is no accounting. Take, for example, the whole world.

I read assiduously. I kept in touch with my species.

The prose as such has to be singing the song the story is telling.

Is the story developing an attitude or victimized by it.

Self-confidence can be crippling.

I can only gesture at what makes a story good.

Mr. Watson — Come here — I want to se

Girls are much too clever to fall out of their prams

The Earth does not belong to us: we belong to the Earth.

If you put the ball in the right place, you don't have to throw hard.

Secrets find a way out in sleep . . . It is the place where there is no pretense.

After that, whenever I drove past Mangakahia, I would empty my ashtray - and I was a heavy smoker in those days - on the road outside the hall.

I usually feel something before I know it.

Change is vital to any actor. If you keep playing lead after lead, you're really gonna dry up. Because all those vehicles wean you away from the truths of human behaviour.

I guess I sort of just feel like I am lucky.

I want to be great at what I do. I don't want to be just an average rapper.