London has always been a haven for victims of cruelty, and been improved by them. Yet I can see it changing now. Outsiders are demonised, there are little bits of legislation, people are scared.

Its unfortunate and I really wish I wouldn't have to say this, but I really like human beings who have suffered. They're kinder.

Being disabled should not mean being disqualified from having access to every aspect of life.

I think books are like people, in the sense that they'll turn up in your life when you most need them.

I hate the way market forces try to separate us out in to the appropriate demographic - basically in order to sell us things. We need to find stories that we can enjoy together, not separately.

Any problem, big or small, within a family, always seems to start with bad communication. Someone isn't listening.

I was brought up by very witty people who were dealing with quite difficult things: disease and death... I was brought up by people who tended to giggle at funerals.

Maybe I don't take myself so seriously any more. And I don't care how I'm judged. I'm past all that.

You can't imagine what satisfaction can be gotten from throwing a pie into someone's face.

When husbands and fathers leave, their wives and daughters tend to value themselves less as a result.

During an election, it's like they're doing my job: they're going around banging the drum for their party and selling their movie. You know, it's the same thing.

Publishing is a business and writing is an art. The two have to be crammed together despite the clearly different motivations behind them.

I have this insane and unabated longing for San Francisco. I come up there every chance that I get.

Be more concerned about what's right rather than who's right.

My wife and I just started listening to the late Beethoven Quartets together, an activity I recommend for all married couples, but that doesn't really mean that I'm finished reading.

Cartoonists are untrained artists, while illustrators are more trained.

Nature has a counterpart, a representation of every interior mood and obscure perception of man.

Do tears not yet spilled wait in small lakes?

Only when you understand people, they may understand you. So even though you do not say anything, if you understand people there is some communication.

The most ultimately righteous of all wars is a war with savages.

I don't really like the gym.