Tony Judt's remarkable 'The Memory Chalet' was written from the prison of mute immobility.

I think the computer is a hindrance to good writing because it is so tempting to leave what you've written. If you use a typewriter, you must retype if you make a mistake, and thus, you must re-examine every word.

The market town of Cheltenham, in Gloucestershire, was a popular 19th - century English spa. Its mineral springs were supposed to be good for you. This was before the invention of bran. In the 20th century, Cheltenham grew into an active municipality.

I wanted to publish a book simply to be buried with it; that's all I wanted. I had no ambition beyond that.

I know a lot of single people who are not miserable as society tells them they're supposed to be.

I always loved to read, and I wanted to be part of the project of literature. My physical longevity is due to luck, and my literary longevity is due to my physical longevity.