I know that part of the reason I read Tolkien when I'm ill is that there is an almost total absence of sexuality in his world, which is restful.

You can understand a lot about yourself by working out which fairytale you use to present your world to yourself in.

In our world of sleek flesh and collagen, Botox and liposuction, what we most fear is the dissolution of the body-mind, the death of the brain.

I acquired a hunger for fairy tales in the dark days of blackout and blitz in the Second World War.

One of the reasons I've gotten so attached to talking to scientists is that... they know there is a reality.

I am suspicious of writers who go looking for issues to address. Writers are neither preachers nor journalists. Journalists know much more than most writers about what's going on in the world. And if you want to change things, you do journalism.