Well, I like the rain before it falls.

I like the rain before it falls. of course there is no such thing, she said. That's why it's my favorite. Something can still make you happy, can't it, even if it isn't real.

I'm one of those unlucky people who had a happy childhood.

The writer I feel the most affinity with - you said you felt my books are 19th century novels, I think they're 18th century novels - is Fielding, Henry Fielding, he's the guy who does it for me.

Objectivity is just male subjectivity.

You would go mad if you began to speculate about the impact your novel might have while you were still writing it.

Writers never feel comfortable having labels attached to them, however accurate they are.

Contemporary Britain seems an endlessly fascinating place to me - but if I knew a little bit more about other places, and other times, maybe it wouldn't.

Some people don't realize that a straight 'No' can be the kindest answer in the world.

Ah, well, I have no talent for nonfiction, that's my problem.

For many weeks after [my wife] died, I could not get used to the feeling of coldness and lifelessness on her side of the bed - and it was even worse when they took the body away and buried her.

I was also going to give a graduation speech in Arizona this weekend. But with my accent, I was afraid they would try to deport me.

Stay away to abuse and misemploy knowledge, and neutrality with jealousy since it reflects the lack of sense.

You don't necessarily have to write to be a poet. Some people work in gas stations and they're poets. I don't call myself a poet, because I don't like the word. I'm a trapeze artist.

I bought my daughter a Chihuahua and I fell in love with it. So now I carry Coco around with me all the time.

What are we doing to keep the light shining in our own eyes and countenances; Much of that light comes from our discipline dedication and consecration.

Democracy and socialism are means to an end, not the end itself.

Scientists study physical things, then describe them; engineers describe physical things, then build them.

My noisy denunciation trails off in doubt.

Some friends, you only see them when the sun shines.. My fans sustained me even in dark days. I owe them everything.

You have to digest life. You have to chew it up and love it all through.