The funeral was over, at last I could cry. Except that I couldn't. My tears, kept in too long, had fossilized. They would have to stay in forever now.

I have always been a reader; I have read at every stage of my life, and there has never been a time when reading was not my greatest joy

I don't pretend reality is the same for everyone.

Once upon a time there was a fairy godmother, but the rest of the time there was none. This story is about one of those other times.

For me to see is to read. It has always been that way.

Of course I loved books more than people.

Boys do not leave their boyhood behind when they leave off their school uniform.

A good story is always more dazzling than a broken piece of truth.

But silence is not a natural environment for stories. They need words. Without them they grown pale, sicken and die. And then they haunt you.

When I was a child, books were everything. And so there is in me, always, a nostalgic, yearning for the lost pleasure of books. It is not a yearning that one ever expects to be fulfilled.

A story so cherished it has to be dressed in casualness to disguise its significance in case the listener turned out to be unsympathetic.

Education costs an arm and a leg, but ignorance costs you your mind and your soul.

The final aim of any temptation is to bring a person back into the kingdom of darkness.

When you're fighting a crowd, it's good to shout potentially threatening things like "Crossbows!" or "Fire!" or "Giant Flying Cat!" every once in a while.

Everybody seems to be wasting their time online. There is such a narcissistic attitude. It's such a strange world.

Today 23 years ago dear Grandmama died. I wonder what she would have thought of a Labour Government.

Only married people understand you can be miserable and happy at the same time.

Learning and performing music have been rewarding, both physically and mentally. They helped me to mature and grow as a person.

I know what is around the corner - I just don't know where the corner is.

I think that a visual artist's philosophy develops much more freely than a writer's or a thinker's philosophy. It is not so disciplined. The photographer works with both his eyes and his mind.

I know very little about acting. I'm just an incredibly gifted faker.