“Homework, I have discovered, involves a sharp pencil and thick books and long sighs.”

“The use of the right word, the exact word, is the difference between a pencil with a sharp point and a thick crayon.”

“I choose to believe God had a more direct involvement in the creation of my heart and consciousness than in the creation of any book, no matter how thick or old it may be.”

“How do I like to write? withe a soft pencil and a hard dick, not the other way round.I like the paper of all kinds : creamy, white, yellow, thick, thin, lined, plain. In my cupboard I have at least fifty notebooks, each of which, at the time of purchase, filled me with excitement of what might be said of new thoughts discovered.....and then-nothing.”

“Books have to be read (worse luck, for it takes a long time); it is the only way of discovering what they contain.”

“I don’t have bionic arms, and I have absolutely no stamina. Once I rubbed out the penciled-in marginalia of a hundred pages of a book that I wanted to photocopy (long story) and afterwards it felt like I’d been wanking off a giant for a hundred years.”