Ian Mcewan Quotes
How often one reads a contemporary full-length novel and thinks quietly, mutinously, that it would have worked out better at half or a third the length.
Quotes to Explore
-
Buildings are always better than drawings and models.
-
The role of designers and product makers is to really become much better editors. What kind of functionality is actually needed - and truly delightful - to consumers? Remove all the extraneous stuff.
-
I think the show does better with newsmakers and politicians than it does with actors.
-
What other grown-up gets told how to do their job so often as a writer?
-
Perhaps misguided moral passion is better than confused indifference.
-
In American films, Russians are often portrayed like cartoon villains without clear motivations.
-
I know so many people who are so much better at it than I am, and I think I'm a goofier person rather than a serious, dramatic actress, so I probably belong in comedy.
-
The economy in Ireland has been rampaging ahead for the last 15 years. Barring an international, political or natural catastrophe, things can only get better for the Irish.
-
What I'm most pleased about is that there's no particular decline. The songs I wrote 40 years ago are no worse and no better - there's a consistency.
-
Brad Pitt is a dude who just wants to make good movies. He's not afraid to surround himself with the greatest actors, which I always appreciate because I've also seen actors who only want to surround themselves with weak actors because it makes them look better. That ends up making a poorer movie.
-
Sometimes the kids come up with better endings than the real story.
-
I always wanted to be a singer, and so, when I was 5 years old, I started acting classes so I could be a better performer. I wanted to have a powerful voice so I could be heard.
-
Every time I go out there and compete, my number is, of course, $100 million or better.
-
Nobody wants to be against technology, but I think that regulators should not - and people should not - assume that faster is always better in markets. We need to question technology to insure that markets continue to perform their fundamental purposes.
-
If Northern Ireland had better weather, it would be like New Zealand. It's an immensely beautiful country.
-
The great apologist has to have lived large and wild. If he's going to kiss the world's boo-boos and make up, he'd better plant some bruises first. A master apologizer has to be a Lord Byron, a Rick in Casablanca, a Lee Atwater, anyway.
-
What I hate in fiction is when the author knows better than the characters what they should do.
-
Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better.
-
Nine English traditions out of ten date from the latter half of the nineteenth century.
-
Cover the canvas at the first go, then work at it until you see nothing more to add.
-
It's like with a girl: it's more fun to meet and slowly, gradually learn things about each other. A little mystery is always nice and it's interesting to still learn new things about someone you are involved with.
-
You just never know when movies are going to take off or not. The lucky thing about this was that it didn't cost a lot of money, and therefore there wasn't loads of pressure on me.
-
I've always been seen as the underdog in everything I've ever done in my life, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest. The lessons have just made me stronger.
-
How often one reads a contemporary full-length novel and thinks quietly, mutinously, that it would have worked out better at half or a third the length.
