Ian Mcewan Quotes - Page 2

Quotes about:

• Self-consciousness is the destroyer of erotic joy.

  Ian Mcewan

  Self, Joy, Erotic

  Ian McEwan (2010). “Enduring Love”, p.102, Random House

  13 Copy quote

• A story was a form of telepathy. By means of inking symbols onto a page, she was able to send thoughts and feelings from her mind to her reader's. It was a magical process, so commonplace that no one stopped to wonder at it.

  Ian Mcewan

  Mean, Feelings, Mind

  Ian McEwan (2010). “Atonement”, p.37, Random House

  18 Copy quote

• A story lives transformed by a gesture not made or a word not spoken

  Ian Mcewan

  Stories, Gestures, Made

  13 Copy quote

• Love doesn't grow at a steady rate, but advances in surges, bolts, wild leaps, and this was one of those.

  Ian Mcewan

  Leap, Rate, Grows

  7 Copy quote

• Oblivion seemed the only reasonable option.

  Ian Mcewan

  Oblivion, Reasonable

  6 Copy quote

• Novels without female characters were a lifeless desert.

  Ian Mcewan

  Character, Female, Desert

  8 Copy quote

• one could drown in irrelevance.

  Ian Mcewan

  Irrelevance

  18 Copy quote

• Finally he spoke the three simple words that no amount of bad art or bad faith can every quite cheapen. She repeated them, with exactly the same slight emphasis on the second word, as though she were the one to say them first. He had no religious belief, but it was impossible not to think of an invisible presence or witness in the room, and that these words spoken aloud were like signatures on an unseen contract.

  Ian Mcewan

  Religious, Art, Simple

  "Atonement". Book by Ian McEwan. Reviewed in "The Wounds of Love" by Jonathan Yardley, www.washingtonpost.com. March 17, 2002.

  11 Copy quote

• It wasn't only wickedness and scheming that made people unhappy, it was confusion and misunderstanding; above all, it was the failure to grasp the simple truth that other people are as real as you.

  Ian Mcewan

  Life, Real, Simple

  "Atonement". Book by Ian McEwan, 2001.

  11 Copy quote

• Someone once asked me "If your life could be extended to 150 and you could start another career, would you?" And I said "No, thanks, I think I'll stick at this."

  Ian Mcewan

  Thinking, Careers, Sticks

  Ian McEwan, Ryan Roberts (2010). “Conversations with Ian McEwan”, Univ Pr of Mississippi

  7 Copy quote

• And she did not miss his presence so much as his voice on the phone. Even being lied to constantly, though hardly like love, was sustained attention; he must care about her to fabricate so elaborately and over such a long stretch of time. His deceit was a form of tribute to the importance of their marriage.

  Ian Mcewan

  Phones, Like Love, Voice

  Ian McEwan (2010). “Atonement”, p.148, Random House

  11 Copy quote

• When its gone, you'll know what a gift love was. you'll suffer like this. So go back and fight to keep it.

  Ian Mcewan

  Lost Love, Fighting, Suffering

  FaceBook post by Ian McEwan from Feb 26, 2013

  21 Copy quote

• I believe the novella is the perfect form of prose fiction. It is the beautiful daughter of a rambling, bloated ill-shaven giant (but a giant who's a genius on his best days).

  Ian Mcewan

  Beautiful, Daughter, Believe

  "Some Notes on the Novella". www.newyorker.com. October 29, 2012.

  20 Copy quote

• Reading groups, readings, breakdowns of book sales all tell the same story: when women stop reading, the novel will be dead.

  Ian Mcewan

  Book, Reading, Groups

  "Hello, would you like a free book?" by Ian McEwan, www.theguardian.com. September 20, 2005.

  13 Copy quote

• It is shaming sometimes how the body will not, or cannot, lie about emotions. Who, for decorum’s sake, has ever slowed his heart, or muted a blush?

  Ian Mcewan

  Lying, Heart, Body

  9 Copy quote

• This commonplace cycle of falling asleep and waking, in darkness, under private cover, with another creature, a pale soft tender mammal, putting faces together in a ritual of affection, briefly settled in the eternal necessities of warmth, comfort, safety, crossing limbs to draw nearer - a simple daily consolation, almost too obvious, easy to forget by daylight.

  Ian Mcewan

  Fall, Simple, Safety

  6 Copy quote

• From this new and intimate perspective, she learned a simple, obvious thing she had always known, and everyone knew; that a person is, among all else, a material thing, easily torn, not easily mended.

  Ian Mcewan

  Simple, Obvious Things, Perspective

  "Atonement". Book by Ian Mcewan, www.sfgate.com. 2001.

  7 Copy quote

• That love which does not build a foundation on good sense is doomed.

  Ian Mcewan

  Foundation, Doe, Doomed

  9 Copy quote

• I wouldn't mind being the lead guitarist in an incredibly successful rock band. However, I don't play the guitar.

  Ian Mcewan

  Successful, Play, Rocks

  "Ian McEwan", www.theguardian.com. July 22, 2008.

  9 Copy quote

• And though you think the world is at your feet, it can rise up and tread on you.

  Ian Mcewan

  Thinking, Feet, World

  Ian McEwan (2010). “Atonement”, p.16, Random House

  9 Copy quote

• Not being boring is quite a challenge.

  Ian Mcewan

  Challenges, Boring

  "The Background Hum" by Daniel Zalewski, www.newyorker.com. February 23, 2009.

  12 Copy quote

• When there are no consequences, being wrong is simply a diversion.

  Ian Mcewan

  Diversion, Being Wrong, Consequence

  13 Copy quote

• Writing a novel resembles a journey with only the sketchiest of maps.

  Ian Mcewan

  Writing, Journey, Novel

  Source: www.washingtonpost.com

  13 Copy quote

• It's the essence of a degenerating mind periodically, to lose all sense of continuous self, and therefore any regard for what others think of your lack of continuity.

  Ian Mcewan

  Thinking, Self, Essence

  6 Copy quote

• We go on our hands and knees and crawl our way towards the truth

  Ian Mcewan

  Hands, Goes On, Knees

  7 Copy quote

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