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" Sometimes I rant, in a comical way, about how the gods give with one hand and take with the other. "

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" I never imagined when I began writing in the early 1960s I'd become professional and my life would be transformed. "

" Every time I start a new piece of work, I spend a long while under the duvet thinking I can't do it. "

" I'm spectacularly disorganised. I wrote my latest book in seven different notebooks scattered throughout my house. "

" I always have this image of a woman running across a desert carrying children, trying to find water and food, not knowing when they'll get that. And her feet are slashed up from the dry, hard earth... Even when I'm uncomfortable, sometimes in pain, or just cold... I think, 'Thank God for what I've got.' "

" I'm getting to the end of my magnifying glasses now. One eye's gone completely. The other is gradually dimming. Dimming - that sounds very dramatic, doesn't it? I'm so lucky. I can still make a living - and the same kind of living. "

" People down on their luck deserve the best: beautiful surroundings and well-paid professional staff to help them out of their difficulties. Why not train thousands more social workers and let them sit in on claimants' interviews? "

" I am a very independent person, and I, you know, I maintain that independence, but, you know, certain things - I mean, it takes, you know, it's just much easier for other people if other people can help you every now and again. "

" I am surrounded by counselors. My sister is a counselor. My daughter is training to be a counselor. A lot of my friends are counselors. "

" My cream and black Aga. It is the heart of the house, and people congregate around it. "

" I always feel as if I'm a disappointment: that people want a grand dame in furs like Barbara Taylor Bradford. "

" I prefer to keep my secrets to myself, to the grave... and beyond! "

" I'd love a day devoid of responsibilities. I've often thought about going to a hotel just to have a day away from everything. "

" Most social problems could be helped or prevented if people had more money and practical advice. "

" I married two weeks after my 18th birthday, far too young, and by the time I was 23 I was a single mother of three small children, Sean, Daniel and Victoria, living in a prefab house. "

" I think we take it for granted that if you are with your husband after 30 years, then he is the love of your life. "

" When I was a child, I dreaded blindness. We used to ask: 'Would we rather be blind or deaf?' I said I'd rather be blind, even though I was scared of it. I couldn't bear not being able to hear music or talk to people. "

" I became an insomniac, really, hardly slept at all, didn't even try to. And it's carried on. I hate to say I only need as much sleep as Mrs. Thatcher, but I can cope really well on five hours. "

" I took my sight and mobility for granted. "

" I take life very seriously. I can laugh at it, because what else can you do? But it's a hard daily battle. "

" I do think that books, good books, free you. They make you feel a citizen of the world and things like class, sex and age don't matter. They're the greatest leveler. "

" I don't like to be noticed. The older I've got, the more reclusive I've become. I've got late-onset shyness. People are lovely. When they see me in the street, they don't ask for anything from me. They just say: 'I thought it was you, and I just wanted to say how much I enjoy your books,' but I can't seem to cope with it anymore. "

" In the early days, it was, you know, I used to weep while I was writing. I used to grab at any kind of anything, any hint, any tip of how to make it easy. "

" I have a slight addiction to Diet Coke, and, of course, I absolutely shouldn't touch it because it makes the kidneys work really hard. "

" The monarchy is finished. It was finished a while ago, but they're still making the corpses dance. "

" I am from the working class. I am now what I was then. No amount of balsamic vinegar and Prada handbags could make me forget what it was like to be poor. "

" I always wanted to be Jo in 'Little Women.' She's a bit reckless and feckless, always getting into trouble like me. But I'm probably more like Madame Bovary. "

" I usually listen to the same thing over and over again: Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major. And Leonard Cohen. "

" I am the world's worst diabetic. "

" I hate it when people call me a 'national treasure.' It takes away your bite and makes you feel like a harmless old golden Labrador. "

" I've always been fascinated by totalitarian regimes. I'm not an admirer of them. "