I was foreign and Jewish, with a funny name, and was very small and hated sport, a real problem at an English prep school. So the way to get round it was to become the school joker, which I did quite effectively - I was always fooling around to make the people who would otherwise dump me in the loo laugh.

I learnt to stop fantasising about the perfect job or the perfect relationship because that can actually be an excuse for not living.

My writing always came out of a very personal place, out of an attempt to stay sane.

Alain de Botton Quotes