Writer

Everyone writes in Tolstoy's shadow, whether one feels oneself to be Tolstoyan or not.

If you know somebody is going to be awfully annoyed by something you write, that's obviously very satisfying, and if they howl with rage or cry, that's honey.

The latest research has revealed that women have a higher IQ than men.

'In Memoriam' has been my companion for all my grownup life.

I've never had a study in my life. I'm like Jane Austen - I work on the corner of the dining table.

I do not find it easy to articulate thoughts about religion. I remain the sort of person who turns off 'Thought for the Day' when it comes on the radio.

Iris Murdoch did influence my early novels very much, and influence is never entirely good.

It seems astonishing to be paid for indulging in pure pleasure. For me to go to Coburg is rather as if a trainspotter was sent for a few weeks to Swindon or a chocoholic asked on holiday by Green and Black.

Fear of death has never played a large part in my consciousness - perhaps unimaginative of me.

When I think about atheist friends, including my father, they seem to me like people who have no ear for music, or who have never been in love.

Reading about Queen Victoria has been a passion of mine since, as a child, I came across Laurence Housman's play 'Happy and Glorious,' with its Ernest Shepard illustrations.

In the past, I used to counter any such notions by asking myself: 'Would you really want President Hattersley?' I now find that possibility rather cheers me up. With his chubby, Dickensian features and his knowledge of T.H. Green and other harmless leftish political classics, Hattersley might not be such a bad thing after all.

The approach of death certainly concentrates the mind.

Personally, I think universities are finished. So much rubbish gets taught.

Fear of death has never played a large part in my consciousness - perhaps unimaginative of me.

I should prefer to have a politician who regularly went to a massage parlour than one who promised a laptop computer for every teacher.

The Royal Family are not like you and me. They live in houses so big that you can walk round all day and never need to meet your spouse. The Queen and Prince Philip have never shared a bedroom in their lives. They don't even have breakfast together.

The scribbler's life is never done.

Tennyson seems to be the patron saint of the wishy washies, which is perhaps why I admire him so much, not only as a poet, but as a man.

I do not find it easy to articulate thoughts about religion. I remain the sort of person who turns off 'Thought for the Day' when it comes on the radio.