It is a violation which has obsessed the tyrants of the twentieth century. They do not want simply to kill their opponents, but to liquidate them, to deny that they have ever existed.

Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn’t work, throw it away.

A problem with a piece of writing often clarifies itself if you go for a long walk.

Finish the day's writing when you still want to continue.

The human longing for story is so powerful, so primitive, that it seems like something not learned, but locked into our genes.

i wish i was away in Ingo far across the briny sea sailing over deepest waters where neither care nore worry trouble me

I enjoy research; in fact research is so engaging that it would be easy to go on for years, and never write the novel at all.

However, the difficulties and pleasures of the writing itself are similar for a novel with a historical setting and a novel with a contemporary setting, as far as I'm concerned.

However, I began to submit poems to British magazines, and some were accepted. It was a great moment to see my first poems published. It felt like entering a tradition.

Writing poetry makes you intensely conscious of how words sound, both aloud and inside the head of the reader. You learn the weight of words and how they sound to the ear.

As individuals, we are shaped by story from the time of birth; we are formed by what we are told by our parents, our teachers, our intimates.

We are surrounded by evil forces in our daily lives. We must be wise enough to recognize them. Strong enough to resist them and resolute enough to destroy them.

Be thou as chaste as ice as pure as snow thou shalt not escape calumny.

Wait for the idea. It may not come at first, but you must be patient, never doubting, waiting in faith. It will come.

The player who expects a lesson to 'take' without subsequent practice just isn't being honest with himself or fair to his professional.

Some of the most patriarchal thinkers I know are women. Some of the most feminist thinkers are men.

Was he a doper or was he just a loser?

I think Walking Dead is one of the friendliest new reader type books in that every time a new trade is shipped out, a new issue is shipped out at the same time.

When two friends understand each other totally, the words are soft and strong like an orchid's perfume.

If we wait for the U.S. to do something, we will be waiting for a very long time. It's Europe, it's Australia, it's the other developed and middle developing countries that have got to do the job.

The meaning of life is found by diving deep, deep within.