“I left London to migrate to Manchester because at that time it was -- if you had a personality disorder and a good record collection -- the most interesting place to be in the world.”

“Because at this time, in this place, Chinese writing exhibits symptoms of a mental disorder.”

“I write poetry not for publication but merely to kill time. Airplanes are a good place to write poetry and then throw it away. My collected works are mostly on the vomit bags of Lufthansa.”

“I concluded that no place in the world was entirely safe for an African, and that for many of us, survival depended on perpetual migration.”

“Your countenance perfectly informs me that you were in company last night with the person, whom you think the most agreeable in the world, the person who interests you at this present time, more than all the rest of the world put together.”

“I collect the most valuable thing in the world—free time. But unlike other priceless things, I don’t need a safe to keep it safe, because I keep all my free time in the past, where nobody can touch it—not even me. My collection grows larger every day.”