When I first began to write fiction, I didn't think I was a comic writer; I thought I was a serious writer. I was surprised when the first novel I wrote was regarded as a funny novel.

When I write I feel like I can breathe. It’s like yoga for the brain.

I don't write tracts, I write novels. I'm not a preacher, I'm a fiction writer.

I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it.

I'm a natural clown, I suppose, in writing, and one has to accept that; I can't do anything about it. I have written one or two novels which are not specifically funny. I wrote a study of Shakespeare which was not intended to be funny, but some people regard it as such.

To write is to become disinterested. There is a certain renunciation in art.