- Future
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- Nov 07, 2020
Me Quotes
Quotes rooted in the first person.
These are quotes centered on 'me' - childhood memories tied to family traditions, like a grandfather's holiday reading passed down for decades, alongside admissions about how humor can double as self-protection. Several speak to the solitary nature of creative work, something also explored in Life Quotes.
- Last Updated on May 30, 2021
- Myself
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- Nov 07, 2020
I don't think I've ever frightened myself before when writing, but there were areas where there was terror, as though I was looking into somewhere that I didn't know existed before, and it frightened me.
- Crowds
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- Nov 07, 2020
I loathe crowds. I especially don't like cities. A city involves biomass. And biomass gets to me.
- Feeling
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- Nov 07, 2020
My feeling is that writing is, for me, a pathological condition. That could sound like a mystical experience, and it may be a mystical experience, but I have learnt just to go with it.
- Mother
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- Nov 07, 2020
My mother read nursery rhymes to me, and my grandmother told me folk stories, but as a child I had no interest in writing whatsoever.
- I Am
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- Nov 07, 2020
I am conscious of trying to stretch the boundaries of non-fiction writing. It's always surprised me how little attention many non-fiction writers pay to the formal aspects of their work.
- Good
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- Nov 07, 2020
It's clear to me that there is no good reason for many philosophy books to sound as complicated as they do.
- People
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- Nov 07, 2020
All tours are filled with humiliation. My publisher once hired a private jet to fly me to a venue where 1,000 people were waiting. It almost bankrupted him.
- Funny
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- Nov 07, 2020
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.
- Moments
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- Nov 07, 2020
Many moments in religion seem attractive to me even though I can't believe in any of it.
- Arrogance
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- Nov 07, 2020
The arrogance that says analysing the relationship between reasons and causes is more important than writing a philosophy of shyness or sadness or friendship drives me nuts. I can't accept that.
- Food
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- Nov 07, 2020
What bothers me is that there is so much emphasis on food, rather than gathering and meeting - so that there is all this effort in creating the right food, whereas the food is only a small part of whether the encounter is successful or not.
- Heart
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- Nov 07, 2020
I've had my successes and failures. I know many academics in my field loathe me. I've come to loathe them back, as it seems only polite to do so. But at heart it's absurd; we should band together against the big common enemies.
- Person
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- Nov 07, 2020
We don't sulk with everybody. We limit our sulks to a very particular person: the person who's supposed to love us and understand us. And we make this equation that if you love me, you're supposed to understand me even if I don't explain what's wrong.
- Criticise
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- Nov 07, 2020
The thing is that love gives us a ringside seat on somebody else's flaws, so of course you're gonna spot some things that kinda need to be mentioned. But often the romantic view is to say, 'If you loved me, you wouldn't criticise me.' Actually, true love is often about trying to teach someone how to be the best version of themselves.
- Old-Fashioned
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- Nov 07, 2020
There's a certain kind of insular, old-fashioned, upper-class Britishness that gives me the spooks. I am sure that comes from a boarding-school trauma.
- Life
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- Nov 07, 2020