Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer’s a good idea.

If you've been picked for your country you've been picked for a reason: because you're good enough. So go there, be yourself, keep doing what you've been doing for your club, and enjoy it.

I’d tell them, “If you believe in something, go for it, but know that when you go for it there’s a price to be paid. Be ready to pay that price and you can contribute to the welfare of society, and society will acknowledge you and respect you for it. And don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid.”

You have to be intelligent, and be able to cope with stress. It is a stressful life, both mentally and physically. Those are the qualities to succeed as a surgeon.

I’m prone to overexplaining things –- when my own understanding of them is shaky. The better I know something, the shorter my prose.

The summer just after finishing How Proust Can Change Your Life.

Machismo.

Impatience with difficult projects: panicking and giving up too quickly.

Norman Mailer, Geoff Dyer and Roland Barthes. I'm interested in writing that takes in the great questions. I'm curious as to whether you can be profound in the course of reporting the incidents of everyday life.

To make www.theschooloflife.com a global brand (to open a branch in Australia). To make www.living-architecture.co.uk flourish. To write good books.