David Mitchell

I had a happy childhood. ”

When I talk about my artist parents, people imagine a bohemian environment and think, 'Aha, so that's where he gets it from!' But we were as white, straight, and middle-class as the next family on our white, straight, middle-class housing estate. ”

My books are anti-absolutist and deeply distrustful of any religious stance that precludes the validity of any other. ”

I think it's natural for youth to be drawn to newness: The world is still new for them. ”

I think the story is the most ancient form of human entertainment. ”

Perhaps all human interaction is about wanting and getting. ”

I'm from a time and place where bigheadedness was a really savage crime, and you'd get cut down for it by your peers and parents. ”

I think all writers of my age who are brought up on films probably by the age of 16 have seen many more films than they have read classics of literature. We can't help but be influenced by film. Film has got some great tricks that it's taught writers. ”

In the 1970s and 1980s there was so little decent fiction for young people, but we're now in a golden age that shows no sign of fading. Philip Pullman, J. K. Rowling, Lemony Snicket are only three of the best known among a good number of equals. ”

You can't be a part-time Richard Dawkins. ”