Our response to the world is essentially one of wonder, of confronting the mysterious with a sense, not of being small, or insignificant, but of being part of a rich and complex narrative.

The definition of a page-turner really aught to be that this page is so good, you can't bear to leave it behind, but then the next page is there and it might be just as amazing as this one.

That's the wonderful thing with nerds: they're enthusiasts. Not having a life means you get to love things with a passion and nobody bothers you about it.

All you have to do is choose the right day, the right weather, and you come upon a hidden place in the morning light where time stopped long before you were born

The trick and the beauty of language is that it seems to order the whole universe, misleading us into believing that we live in sight of a rational space, a possible harmony.

As I child, I came to this idea with a horrified fascination. Once upon a time, I wasn’t here. Before that, my parents weren’t here. And before that…

If the components of the body were organs and veins and cells, then the components of thought and language were words and grammar.

Poetry stands or falls by its music.

My poems tend to be more celebratory and lyrical, and the novels so far pretty dark. Poetry doesn't seem to me to be an appropriate tool for exploring that.

With fiction, I tend to get to my desk and start writing. Poetry I write in my head, often while walking, so that my poems have an organic quality, hopefully.

I realised I'd spent a lot of time in my poetry trying to find a way of talking about that whereof we cannot speak.

What matters is not how long it takes but the grace of fulfilled dream.

Practice appreciation for who you are and what you have… and allow your life to unfold in the most amazing way.

You play on the ice... you get what you should get.

Design is the beauty of turning constraints into advantages.

Journalism is the closest thing I have to a religion, because I believe deeply in the role and responsibility the journalists have to the people of a self-governing community.

People do ask, 'Are you going to embellish this stuff?' I wouldn't change any of my guitar parts.

I like to look like a tomboy during the day and then a pin-up girl at night.

Sunday night, I reread The Catcher in the Rye until I felt tired enough to fall asleep. Only I never got tired enough. And I couldn't read, because reading didn't feel the same.

Once wealth and beauty are gone, there is always rural life.

You can be a hunchback and a dwarf and what-all. If you write beautifully, you can write beautifully.