“When a monkey nibbles on a weenis, it’s funny in any language.”

You must not complain, then, if she goes hunting.

Possessive parents rarely live long enough to see the fruits of their selfishness.

Everything I have ever written has been in the same chair, in the same room.

Ive learned never to try and force words to come.

… I had never given much credence to the phenomenon of “writer’s block”.

It isn’t like that at all. It may be more difficult now, and take longer than when I started to write, but there’s a great, empty warehouse out there looking for simple talent.

My great-grandfather was a self-taught man, and his library was extraordinary. I read the lot.

My attitude is that if anybody of any age wants to read a book, let them, but I do think that no child would want to read Boneland.

At this level, only images connect. And here, story becomes symbol; symbol is myth. And myth is truth.

It’s where I keep all my things. Get a lot of compliments on this.

Hitting the gym to release stress is not nearly as effective as hitting the people that cause the stress to begin with.

If you are going to write, nothing will stop you, and if you are not going to write, nothing will make you.

I love research so much that I do an enormous amount; it helps put off the moment of starting to write the story.

Oral traditions going back a long, long time, which I inherited by osmosis.

I learnt that I must never finish a book with nothing else to do.

Plus it’s not a purse, it’s called a satchel. Indiana Jones wears one.

I learned a new language for it all in the 90s. Which in some ways isn’t bad.

We also try to teach them both Portuguese and Serbian, though English is their primary language.

The 1990s were also when a bunch of the soft-shoe language for race, gender, and class became paramount.

I use the language I use to my friends. They wouldn’t believe me if I used some high-flown literary language. I want them to believe me.

I mean getting people to think about what language actually means before they use it is a good thing.

It’s the sort of subject that always interests me: jealousy and the language of suspicion and guilt. I think it interests people.

She leads us through their unknown world, her gift of language rising up like a delicate string of necessary lights.

Music is a language of emotion.