This is what I discovered during my imprisonment. I saw the human character in its naked form. I saw at one end a narrow rank of villainy, and at the other a narrow rank of virtue. In the middle was everyone else. And I understood that the state of the world is the result of the struggle between these two extremes.

People everywhere feel differently at different times of their lives.

It’s not for the writer to say whether the thing is successful or not.

I spent seven years writing The Free World. There are a lot of things I accomplished there that I’m very proud of, but I didn’t want to spend another seven years writing a book like that.

I think having an uncompromising ideology eventually forces you out of the norm.

There are books where you can really see the moral question, which I think we answer every day for ourselves, in every interaction we have with people, to a lesser or greater degree.

A measure of earth under your feet that you could call your own. Was there a more primitive concept? But nobody lives in the ether.

In my experience of women, women have a greater capacity. Maybe women, even very pragmatic ones, are less guarded about showing emotions.

Some is, I think, the personal in any act of writing. You find yourself caught up: you start a sentence, and it becomes revelatory, not just of the character, but of you as well.

We are taught that we can be better than we are. But is there a limit to how good we can be?