William Boyd Professions : Novelist Born : March 7, 1952 Died : September 12, 1972 Browse All Authors Top 43 quotes by William Boyd We all possess, like it or not, the people we know, and are possessed by them in turn. William Boyd turns knows people The last thing we ever learn about ourselves is our effect. William Boyd effects lasts Is that a good definition of marking the ageing watershed? That moment when you realize - quite rationally, quite unemotionally - that the world in the not-so-distant future will not contain you: that the trees you planted will continue growing but you will not be there to see them. William Boyd growing tree world It's amazing how sudden the effect is - it must be the result of a deep atavistic mating urge buried inside us. A glance and you think: 'Yes, this is the one, this one is right for me.' Every instinct in your body seems to sing in unison. William Boyd instinct body thinking Sometimes limbo is a tolerable place to be stuck. William Boyd limbo stuck sometimes I let people off the hook too easily. William Boyd hook people Film is a medium of clear lines and broad strikes - which can be fantastic - but compared to the subtleties and nuances of a novel, it doesn't even get close. William Boyd nuance lines film I know many older writers who were very successful and whose books are now out of print, so you have to go to antiquarian booksellers to buy their fifth or eighth novel or whatever it is. William Boyd novel successful book To live as an artist requires hard work or some extraordinary good fortune to come your way. William Boyd hard-work artist way There's a sense in all my novels that nothing is certain. William Boyd certain novel Do we change every time we have a new encounter? Are we endlessly mutable? I think these are fascinating questions: it's a rich vein to tap, and I don't think I have exhausted it fully yet. William Boyd veins encounters thinking I don't think they'll ever make a retro Bond. William Boyd retro thinking There is a disconnect between the film Bond and the literary Bond which is their contemporaneity. I don't suffer from that. William Boyd film suffering I have this lock of hair that keeps falling across my forehead. It drives me mad. William Boyd mad hair fall We talked filth for a pleasant half hour. William Boyd filth hours half I can bore for England on the subject of James Bond. But I knew I couldn't do it frivolously; I had to take it very seriously, however much fun I was having. And I had to make myself, you know, absolutely steeped in Bond and in Fleming and that world. William Boyd bond myself you world Human beings are interested in the human condition. William Boyd condition beings human human-beings As a novelist, where do you go to tap into memories, and impressions, and sensations? It's usually, in my experience, your early life, before you started thinking of yourself as a writer, because somehow those experiences are unadulterated. William Boyd yourself you memories life It's strange; when I was younger and people would ask, 'Where are you from?', I'd say, 'West Africa', which was odd because I'm obviously not African, but it was my home. William Boyd you strange home people Even though I've been an avid consumer of contemporary music since my early teens, the world of rock music has always been at something of a distance - I listen to it, read about it, I talk about it, but I've had little or no contact with its denizens. William Boyd always distance music world Similar Authors Adam Johnson novelist Ivan Goncharov novelist Binnie Kirshenbaum novelist Bruce Jay Friedman novelist Buchi Emecheta novelist Bryce Courtenay novelist All Authors