Literature is the province of imagination, and stories, in whatever guise, are meditations on life.

When you read to a child, when you put a book in a child's hands, you are bringing that child news of the infinitely varied nature of life. You are an awakener.

A good novel begins with a small question and ends with a bigger one.

The minute you become conscious that you are doing good, that's the minute you have to stop because from then on it's wrong.

To be human is to be in a story.

Families hold each other in an iron grip of definition. One must break the grip, somehow.

The language of labels is like paper money, issued irresponsibly, with nothing of intrinsic value behind it, that is, with no effort of the intelligence to see, to really apprehend.

People steal into one's consciousness and occupy what seems, in retrospect, to have been their place all along.

I was the goldfish that leapt out of the bowl.

Life is all getting used to what you're not used to.

we are, in this country, more open to new ideas. But we are also, it seems to me, more inclined to hail the new as absolute truth - until the next new comes along.

I feel rather a fool writing down my thoughts

As usual, there was a story behind the story, and that is where the truth was hidden.

I mean, if you think about doing things to people like that, if you think about it too much, it gets all up in you and you can't control it after a while. Then they really got you.

Work and love - these are the basics. Without them there is neurosis.

It's generally more fun playing the villain

You will come to know that what appears today to be a sacrifice will prove instead to be the greatest investment that you will ever make.

Seeing ourselves through the eyes of grace frees us to be for others all we need to be.

Who invented political tolerance? The English invented it, it's something which has taken roots with some difficulty in Scottish politics.

Human nature is fond of novelty.

The schools I went to as a kid made me wary. It was clear to me that everything was a lie except math.