An eerie atmosphere leeched from the soot-damaged walls. It was as if the house had died, and yet she felt she belonged here. It was as if the old place wanted to claim her from the grave.

The world is changing and you’re only just becoming accustomed to it. You’re changing, I suppose. You’ve changed since I’ve known you.’‘How?’‘You’ve come more alive.

The scraps of information she’d gathered knocked against each other, like balls in a pinball machine in one of the arcades on the front. Secrets drew her in every time – the unsaid.

Mrs Beaumont shrugged. ‘Dougie travelled light in life, ’ she said. ‘He knew it was people who were important.

Time was passing like a hand waving from a train I wanted to be on. I hope you never have to think about anything as much as I think about you.

It is the state of mind of the person wielding the instrument that determines to what end it will be put.

With this kind of camera-phone madness we have got, moments are diluted into self-contained edited experiences.

Life is not black and white. The closes we ever get to either of those colors is wearing them.

The first quality of the commander-in-chief is a cool head to receive a correct impression of things. He should not allow himself to be confused by either good or bad news.

Saying "yes" [to sexual activity] is a pretty low baseline for sexual experience and I wanted to write about what was happening to girls after "yes."

I was probably finding my feet more than anybody. I really have to say I was more obsessed with myself faltering than anybody else.

Free publicity and word of mouth is probably the best and cheapest form of advertising. Learn to use it to your advantage.

What if culture itself is nothing but a halt, a break, a respite, in the pursuit of barbarity?

I know why we're here. We're all here because we're not all there.