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

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.

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.

The more melancholy side of my literary personality is much in tune with BS Johnson's.

If you find yourself easily provoked, then just change the channel.

I decided to coin the term 'cosy crime noir' for Brighton Belle. That is 'cosy crime' for today's sensibilities because there is that slightly edgy element to it.

I just want you, to be mine, forever. I want a piece of you no one else has ever had, and I want you to own my heart forever.

Overall, the challenge of leadership is both moral and one of developing the characteristics that make us respected by one another.

I think the government has a role in protecting the fundamental rights of its citizens.

We have to give our poor, innocent, and undeserving-of-our-badness characters trouble in order to make them characters in a story.

He's just not that into you if he only wants to see you when he's drunk. If he likes you, he'll want to see you when his judgment isn't impaired.

There is a certain physiognomy in manners.

The denial of suffering is, in fact a better definition of illness than its acceptance.

For me, I understood the gift of being able to empower others and to not do everything yourself.