Many people in the intellectual elite are very scared of shouting. They insist on very quiet murmurs.

Kant and Hegel are interesting thinkers. But I am happy to insist that they are also terrible writers.

I was an incredibly lonely, very alienated teenager.

There's a constant tension between the excitement of new people and security with one person. If you go with excitement, you create chaos; you hurt people. There's jealousy, and it gets very messy. If you have security, it can be boring, and you die inside because of all the opportunities missed.

It's very hard to respect people on holiday - everybody looks so silly at the beach, it makes you hate humanity - but when you see people at their work they elicit respect, whether it's a mechanic, a stonemason or an accountant.

I was a very un-literary child, which might reassure parents with kids who don't read.