What is the hardest thing that has happened to you, and what did you carry out of it?
Look, life is pretty dreadful most of the time. Even in the country that's so pretty with the flowers and leaves and sunshine. And I was abandoned when he died! I'm alone. I feel like an old bubba. And I'm not kind all of the time, I'm not nice all the time.
Emma Brockes, The Observer, at his home in Connecticut — his last Guardian interview, The Guardian, 2 October 2011 source ↗