When I started writing fiction it always seemed in retrospect (I didn't realise at the time) that it was always caused by environments rather than by incidents and characters.

I like extremely effeminate dogs like terriers or schnauzers. I make an exception for giant schnauzers and big poodles. Basically, I like dogs which can be dyed day-glo colours.

You always have to find something to say about the subject and in seven cases out of ten there is nothing to say.

I'm not against architecture per se, I'm just against bad architecture.

I like looking at the countryside as well as anyone... a little countryside goes a long way, but it's almost like the DNA of a civilisation is in its cities.

I think television is a medium which has the potential to do great things but has been traduced by these... terrible people who rise through the ranks.

I genuinely find it difficult to think of places that I'd never want to see again. It might be because part of my career has been concerned with writing about topography.

The only bright feature of cultural relativism's triumph is that it has become establishment orthodoxy and will thus one day be derided, resisted and overthrown.

I do make myself be interested in places in a way that I don't make myself be interested in people.

If you have slightly pathological interest in all the components of places, it forces you to engage with them in a way that perhaps otherwise you wouldn't, and that's the only way I can put it.

Vertigo doesn't apply in planes for some reason. You think it's some kind of magic and you don't know how it's keeping you up, but when you're on a cliff top it's a different matter.

And these are the sametype of people who killthe innocent andjustify it by saying“They’ve gone to bewith Jesus now”But we won’t talkabout how theycrucified Him, too

I kind of do it in my head, then I'll try pieces of it on stage and if it looks promising, I'll put it together.

Despite the obvious qualifications of all of Jesse's other sons, God appoints the unlikely David to become the king of Israel.

Home is the definition of God.

Build an organization that can tackle the tough things and keep moving.

I try to take care of my hair because it sort of has to withstand a lot of blowdrying and ironing.

If things are getting darker, the problem is with us.

I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively.

Go safely. Go safely, she thought to him. what a silly, empty thing it was to say to anyone, anywhere.

Essentials of how to do a startup do not include writing a business plan