KATE MOSSE

I really like people and I keep friendships. I have people from all parts of my life.

Usually I decide on what it is I'm writing next by the books I'm reading.

Lots of people have objections to prizes of all types, and it would be extraordinary if everybody agreed on anything that's worthwhile - they never do.

The message is clear: libraries matter. Their solid presence at the heart of our towns sends the proud signal that everyone - whoever they are, whatever their educational background, whatever their age or their needs - is welcome.

Actually, I can write anywhere - airport lounges, in bed, on a rattling train going north.

People think that I'm very serious.

I am not a fan of historical fiction that is sloppy in its research or is dishonest about the real history.

I read a lot of thrillers, especially American crime novels.

Library campaigners are not prepared to stand by and watch something they cherish be dismantled brick by brick.

All prizes have a role, if they are run with integrity and with a clear focus on reading and quality writing. I don't think any of them is necessary, but they all play an incredibly important role in building a body of literature, in introducing new authors to new readers, and extending reading.

Free and fair access to books - to reading - is a right and one we should fight for.

People have different views of how you deal with different issues in literature, and, frankly, long may it last that there is a range of views.

Do you believe you can change your destiny?' he (Sajhë) said, seeking an answer. Alice found herself nodding. 'Otherwise, what's the point? If we are simply walking a path preordained, then all the experiences that make us who we are - love, grief, joy, learning, changing - would count for nothing.

History is written by the victors, the strongest, the most determined. Truth is found most often in the silence, in the quiet places.

What we leave behind in this life is the memory of who we were and what we did. An imprint, no more.

The dead leave their shadows, an echo of the space within which once they lived. They haunt us, never fading or growing older as we do. The loss we grieve is not just their futures but our own.

One cannot always marry the person one loves.

There is no pattern the human mind can devise that does not exist already within the bounds of nature...Everything we do, see, write, notate, all are an echo of the deep seams of the universe. Music is the invisible world made visible through sound.

Love - true love - is a precious thing. It is painful, uncomfortable, makes fools of us all, but it is what breathes meaning and color and purpose into our lives.

What we attempt to do is not without danger. What we attempt to do may not succeed. But it is right and it is just. We act for the good of all.

Pas a pas, se va luenh. Step by step, we make our way.

Too often I am jealous and my jealousy leads me to say things-things-that I regret.

For when all else is done, on­ly words re­main. Words en­dure.

There comes always a moment when the desire to act, however ill the cause, is stronger than the wish to listen.

There's no black and no white, just shades of grey...But the small betrayals lead to bigger ones, morality is eroded.