Grief seems at first to destroy not just all patterns, but also to destroy a belief that a pattern exists. Julian Barnes More Quotes by Julian Barnes More Quotes From Julian Barnes You put together two people who have not been put together before. Sometimes it is like that first attempt to harness a hydrogen balloon to a fire balloon: do you prefer crash and burn, or burn and crash? But sometimes it works, and something new is made, and the world is changed. Then, at some point, sooner or later, for this reason or that, one of them is taken away. and what is taken away is greater than the sum of what was there. this may not be mathematically possible; but it is emotionally possible. Julian Barnes takenfiretwo Every love story is a potential grief story. Julian Barnes levels-of-lifegriefstories Life isn't just addition and subtraction. There's also the accumulation, the multiplication, of loss, of failure. Julian Barnes subtractionaccumulationloss Nature is so exact, it hurts exactly as much as it is worth, so in a way one relishes the pain. If it didn't matter, it wouldn't matter. Julian Barnes painhurtthinking How rarely do our emotions meet the object they seem to deserve? How hopelessly we signal; how dark the sky; how big the waves. We are all lost at sea, washed between hope and despair, hailing something that may never come to rescue us. Julian Barnes seadarksky In those days, we imagined ourselves as being kept in some kind of holding pen, waiting to be released into our lives. And when the moment came, our lives -- and time itself -- would speed up. How were we to know that our lives had in any case begun, that some advantage had already been gained, some damage already inflicted? Also, that our release would only be into a larger holding pen, whose boundaries would be at first undiscernible. Julian Barnes would-bewaitingfirsts What happiness is there in just the memory of happiness? Julian Barnes memories Why should anything happen when everything has happened? Julian Barnes happenedshouldhappens Writers of either gender ought to be able to do the opposite sex-that's one basic test of competence, after all. Julian Barnes testsoppositessex Most of us remember adolescence as a kind of double negative: no longer allowed to be children, we are not yet capable of being adults. Julian Barnes adultschildrennegative The imagination doesn't crop annually like a reliable fruit tree. The writer has to gather whatever's there: sometimes too much, sometimes too little, sometimes nothing at all. And in the years of glut there is always a slatted wooden tray in some cool, dark attic, which the writer nervously visits from time to time; and yes, oh dear, while he's been hard at work downstairs, up in the attic there are puckering skins, warning spots, a sudden brown collapse and the sprouting of snowflakes. What can he do about it? Julian Barnes darkwritingyears We live in time, it bounds us and defines us, and time is supposed to measure history, isn't it? But if we can't understand time, can't grasp its mysteries of pace and progress, what chance do we have with history--even our own small, personal, largely undocumented piece of it? Julian Barnes progresspiecespace What is taken away is greater than the sum of what was there. This may not be mathematically possible; but it is emotionally possible. Julian Barnes greatertakenmay As I've explained to my wife many times, you have to kill your wife or mistress to get on the front page of the papers. Julian Barnes mistresswifepaper Why does the writing make us chase the writer? Why can't we leave well enough alone? Why aren't the books enough? Julian Barnes doewritingbook Does history repeat itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce? No, that's too grand, too considered a process. History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago. Julian Barnes farcetragedydoe [Flaubert] didn’t just hate the railway as such; he hated the way it flattered people with the illusion of progress. What was the point of scientific advance without moral advance? The railway would merely permit more people to move about, meet and be stupid together. Julian Barnes hatestupidmoving Do we tend to recall the most important parts of a novel or those that speak most directly to us, the truest lines or the flashiest ones? Julian Barnes linesimportantspeak Loving humanity means as much, and as little, as loving raindrops, or loving the Milky Way. You say that you love humanity? Are you sure you aren’t treating yourself to easy self-congratulation, seeking approval, making certain you’re on the right side? Julian Barnes congratulationsselfmean Is any novelist going to recognize the moment when he or she has nothing more to say? It is a brave thing to admit. And since as a professional writer you are full of anxiety anyway, you could easily misread the signs. Julian Barnes anxietynovelistsbrave
