I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will.

For when God forbids us to kill, he not only prohibits us from open violence, which is not even allowed by the public laws, but he warns us against the commission of those beings which are esteemed lawful among men....Therefore, with regard to this precept of God, there ought to be no exception at all, but that it is always unlawful to put to death a man, whom God willed to be a sacred animal.

Why do we take pleasure in gruesome death, neatly packaged as a puzzle to which we may find a satisfactory solution through clues - or if we are not clever enough, have it revealed by the all-powerful tale-teller at the end of the book? It is something to do with being reduced to, and comforted by, playing by the rules.

It is not so much that we, using our brains, spin our yarns, as that our brains, using yarns, spin us.

Horror is always aware of its cause; terror never is. That is precisely what makes terror terrifying.

We cannot discuss human rights, when we are denying people the right to live.