'I believe more in the scissors than I do in the pencil.'

'The problem with living outside the law is that you no longer have its protection'

'Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavour.'

'More tears are shed for answered prayers than for unanswered ones.' (The dedication in his last, unfinished work)

I have never thought of myself as a good writer. Anyone who wants reassurance of that should read one of my first drafts. But I'm one of the world's great rewr…

I think of writing as a sculptural medium. You are not building things. You are removing things, chipping away at language to reveal a living form.

The economy of a novelist is a little like that of a careful housewife who is unwilling to throw away anything that might perhaps serve its turn. Perhaps the c…