Ian Mcewan Quotes
Quotes to Explore
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There is a recurring temptation for any nation, and for any writer who operates within its field of force, to make an ornament of the past: to turn the losses to victories and to restate humiliations as triumphs.
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I was raised Catholic in Rockford, Illinois. But I'm not a practicing Catholic anymore. Oh God, no.
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I am really curious about life, about why we are all here. I notice my skin is ageing, things are changing, I've seen people dying, so that's the train we are all on.
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'Giving 2.0' frames giving as a learning experience and encourages everyone to make giving a part of your year-round life.
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It's quite rare that you find models taken care of backstage.
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Being a public servant, this is a serious job, not like a boxer, you're entertaining people.
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The mountains, the forest, and the sea, render men savage; they develop the fierce, but yet do not destroy the human.
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Painting bodies with the patterns of Kusama's hallucinations obliterated their individual selves and returned them to the infinite universe.
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I am very different to how people think I am. It's the characters I play that they are responding to.
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I have odd thumbs that are extremely flexible. I can bend them quite far down the back side of my hand, basically the opposite side you'd even try to attempt bending your thumb. Because of that, I'm a very good thumb wrestler.
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In China, we don't know about the swimming pool game, but we know about Marco Polo.
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After I recovered from 'Lioness', I wanted to write something about animals because I really like mythical creatures, especially dragons. At 12, I was one of those semi-recluses who did better with animals than people. Out of that, came the character, Daine, who could communicate with animals.
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I always tell students that writing a poem and publishing it are two quite separate things, and you should write what you have to write, and if you're afraid it's going to upset someone, don't publish it.
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My parents spent 16 years hauling my butt to L.A. for audition after audition. I remember always hoping I could help take care of them because they took such good care of me.
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The hardest thing about being an unpublished writer is that there's always that voice in your head that asks if you're really being a fool. You might just really stink and not know it. You have to have a lot of blind faith in the process. You have to like it so much that you're going to do it anyway.
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In many cases your imagination is much more effective than what can be shown. It primes you to know something is about to happen - the anticipation and anxiety is worse than what ends up happening.
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I don't like to Google myself. I try and avoid it whenever I can.
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I don't harp on the negative because if you do, then there's no progression. There's no forward movement. You got to always look on the bright side of things, and we are in control. Like, you have control over the choices you make.
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When I look back at the 1980s I pinch myself. Did I really do all that?
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I'm not against people buying clothes; I think clothes are wonderful, and I'm very materialistic myself - but there's a way of finding a compromise. I just think we can buy less and pay more, to make sure people aren't being exploited.
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My readers know my views on politics and politicians because I make no secret of them in my comments for 'The New Yorker' and elsewhere.
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It is not good for ordinary people to say, 'I am He.' The waves belong to the water. Does the water belong to the waves? The upshot of the whole thing is that, no matter what path you follow, yoga is impossible unless the mind becomes quiet. The mind of a yogi is under his control; he is not under the control of his mind.
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I believe we should spend less time worrying about the quantity of books children read and more time introducing them to quality books that will turn them on to the joy of reading and turn them into lifelong readers.
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Reading reviews makes you thin-skinned. It's like waves washing layers off your skin.
