The most challenging project I've ever done, I think, is every single thing I've ever tried to do. It's never easy.

Novels are fictions and therefore they tell lies, but through those lies every novelist attempts to tell the truth about the world.

There's hope for everyone. That's what makes the world go round.

Stories only happen to those who are able to tell them.

It always stimulates me to discover new examples of my own prejudice and stupidity, to realize that I don't know half as much as I think I do.

One should never underestimate the power of books.

If you're not ready for everything, you're not ready for anything.

Everything can change at any moment, suddenly and forever.

It often happens that things are other than what they seem, and you can get yourself into trouble by jumping to conclusions.

Memory is the space in which a thing happens for a second time.

It seems to me that I will always be happy in the place where I am not.

I think I'm skilful enough, but I don't consider myself a naturally talented, gifted sports person.

When you go through a negative situation, don't think about it. Make it positive.

An advanced way to meditate, of course, is to focus on your teacher. If you have a spiritual teacher and you focus on them during mediation, then you access the light that flows through them.

My life is a lovely story, happy and full of incident.

Successful people do ordinary things with extraordinary consistency, commitment and focus.

Don't let the bastards grind you down. I repeat this to myself but it conveys nothing. You might as well say, Don't let there be air; or Don't be. I suppose you could say that.

The face that cannot smile is never fair.

Speaking of [Philip] Larkin, in his poem about the First World War he wrote something like, "Never such innocence, before or since, that turned itself to past without a word".

I think a lot of people can learn from listening to hip hop. It ain't always about beats and rhymes.

My father would say, 'Ronnie, you're going to be someone special. Whatever it is that you want to do, you're going to be the best in the world at it.'