Our response to the world is essentially one of wonder, of confronting the mysterious with a sense, not of being small, or insignificant, but of being part of a rich and complex narrative.

The conventional, and painfully artificial, separation of the human realm from the natural other is bound to perish, albeit over a period of time, until we are obliged to learn how to cultivate our gardens under the most demanding conditions.

I'm an insomniac, so my perfect reader is probably another insomniac.

If I tell you a story, you can choose to believe me, or you can question it.

The fabric of a garden is determined as much by its textures as by its tonal range and architectural flair.

My second, third and fourth novels were mistakes, essentially.

As a child, I was consumed with a near-obsessive curiosity about what the world felt like for other creatures.

People will occasionally ask me if I understand what it's like to be lonely. And the truth is I don't, because for me, solitariness is a blessing, a gift. Me, I get on fine with myself.

My father was this big, tough guy, almost heroic in proportion to me as a child. It was only later that I saw how fearful he was.

I remember playing the Mad Hatter in a school play and feeling very comfortable in the character.

One of the most beautiful objects I have ever seen was a Yupik wolf mask, made in Nunivak in around 1890.

What makes me write is the rhythm of the world around me -- the rhythms of the language, of course, but also of the land, the wind, the sky, other lives. Before the words comes the rhythm -- that seems to me to be of the essence.

When you have a child, you think about your personal history and what you offer them as a larger narrative, and I realised I knew nothing about my father's circumstances other than what he'd told me.

It takes a true encounter to realise that real animals, wild animals, have all but passed from our lives.

Anyone who has ever stopped to watch a hawk in flight will know that this is one of the natural world's most elegant phenomena.

I don't like the term 'mental illness.' I'd rather just say 'mad.' Just like I always say 'loony bin,' not 'mental hospital.'

'The Gardener' is more than a marvellous collection of images by a master photographer.

What we should be doing is saving habitats, not single species, no matter what their cuteness factor.

The way I mainly use the Internet is keeping in touch with poets that live far away. My main interest is contemporary American poets and some Spanish language poets, and I keep in touch with their work through either their websites or email.

I don't want to suggest that matrimony was necessarily a tragic affair -- some of our neighbours' marriages seemed quite functional, if somewhat routine; nevertheless, in the workaday world, it is wedlock that is most likely to offer the occasion for life-threatening disappointment.