You know how if you're born in a certain situation you always expect your life to run on a steady trajectory? I've never really had a sense of that. I assume that life is going to go up and down.

The thing about getting older is that you don't need everything to be possible any more, you just need things to be certain.

If the culture is so all pervasive that you can’t think outside of it, how are you making genuine choices?

If you think you are powerless, then you are

A new car is not going to change your life.

I'm very eclectic in my music tastes - anything from Nina Simone to Beethoven to Talvin Singh.

The thought of writing was always pleasant, but the process was painful

I was always an outsider, always standing outside, observing and trying to figure things out. Which is exactly what you need to do as a writer, I suppose.

I started writing 'Brick Lane' when my children were two years and five months old. We were on holiday in the north of England when I was overtaken by a compulsion to start writing.

I don't want to get hung up on what 'people,' that nebulous mass, think about me. That's the way to unhappiness, I think.

I always try to create conflict and drama in my books; it's the engine of the novel.

Art is the product of an imperfect world. In a perfect world, art would not exist.

Just following orders' is no excuse unless you're in the bedroom.

Anyone and anything can survive the daylight. It's night that's the hardest to live.

One's life should be sufficiently interesting to furnish entertainment in the record.

In our way of working, we attach a great deal of importance to humility and honesty; With respect for human values, we promise to serve our customers with integrity.

I've had small parts in big pictures and big parts in small pictures.

A real man is capable of controlling himself before he controls his children.

The only power that has any real meaning is the power to better the world.

I wait for the next opportunity to have something to do with food. If I get rested, my mind just starts creating new dishes - click, click, click.

We [US] can't compete with low-wage countries in different parts of the world. We cannot compete with countries that play games with currencies or regulations. We can't. We shouldn't.