But then you begin to understand that the reward of merit is not life’s business. Julian Barnes More Quotes by Julian Barnes More Quotes From Julian Barnes One of the troubles is this: the heart isn't heart-shaped. Julian Barnes troubleheart To be stupid, and selfish, and to have good health are the three requirements for happiness. Julian Barnes selfishthreestupid Yes, of course we were pretentious -- what else is youth for? Julian Barnes pretentiousthought-provokingyouth I thought of the things that had happened to me over the years, and of how little I had made happen. Julian Barnes madelittlesyears ...God knows you can have complication and difficulty without any compensating depth or seriousness Julian Barnes god-knowsdifficultydepth And perhaps it was also the case that, for all a lifetime's internal struggling, you were finally no more than what others saw you as. That was your nature, whether you liked it or not. Julian Barnes sawslifetimestruggle Was it the case that colours dimmed as the eye grew elderly? Or was it rather that in youth your excitement about the world transferred itself onto everything you saw and made it brighter? Julian Barnes elderlyeyeworld Most people, in my opinion, steal much of what they are. If they didn't what poor items they would be. Julian Barnes opinionwould-bepeople And no, it wasn't shame I now felt, or guilt, but something rarer in my life and stronger than both: remorse. A feeling which is more complicated, curdled, and primeval. Whose chief characteristic is that nothing can be done about it: too much time has passed, too much damage has been done, for amends to be made. Julian Barnes strongerguiltfeelings ...life is a gift bestowed without anyone asking for it; that the thinking person has a philosophical duty to examine both the nature of life and the conditions it comes with; and that if this person decides to renounce the gift no one asks for, it is the moral and human duty to act on the consequences of that decision. Julian Barnes philosophicaldecisionthinking The rainbow in place of the unicorn? Why didn't God just restore the unicorn? We animals would have been happier with that, instead of a big hint in the sky about God's magnanimity every time it stopped raining. Julian Barnes rainskyanimal He had a better mind and a more rigorous temperament than me; he thought logically, and then acted on the conclusion of logical thought. Whereas most of us, I suspect, do the opposite: we make an instinctive decision, then build up an infrastructure of reasoning to justify it. And call the result common sense. Julian Barnes common-sensedecisionopposites we must be precise with love, its language and its gestures. If it is to save us, we must look at it as clearly as we should learn to look at death Julian Barnes gestureslanguagelooks I’ve always thought you are what you are and you shouldn’t pretend to be anyone else. But Oliver used to correct me and explain that you are whoever it is you’re pretending to be. Julian Barnes pretendingused Memory is identity....You are what you have done; what you have done is in your memory; what you remember defines who you are; when you forget your life you cease to be, even before your death. Julian Barnes doneidentitymemories There's nothing wrong with being a genius who can fascinate the young. Rather, there's something wrong with the young who can't be fascinated by a genius. Julian Barnes fascinatedgeniusyoung In my terms, I settled for the realities of life, and submitted to its necessities: if this, then that, and so the years passed. In Adrian's terms, I gave up on life, gave up on examining it, took it as it came. And so, for the first time, I began to feel a more general remorse - a feeling somewhere between self-pity and self-hatred - about my whole life. All of it. I had lost the friends of my youth. I had lost the love of my wife. I had abandoned the ambitions I had entertained. I had wanted life not to bother me too much, and had succeeded - and how pitiful that was. Julian Barnes ambitionselfreality Life seemed even more of a guessing game than usual. Julian Barnes guessingusualgames That's one of the central problems of history, isn't it, sir? The question of subjective versus objective interpretation, the fact that we need to know the history of the historian in order to understand the version that is being put in front of us. Julian Barnes orderfactsneeds And yet it takes only the smallest pleasure or pain to teach us time’s malleability. Julian Barnes teachpleasurepain
