The scribbler's life is never done.

A busybody's work is never done.

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

I suppose if I'd got a brilliant first and done research I might still be a don today, but I hope not. People become dons because they are incapable of doing anything else in life.

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

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