I like books that expose me to people unlike me and books that do battle against caricature or simplification. That, to me, is the heroic in fiction. Zadie Smith More Quotes by Zadie Smith More Quotes From Zadie Smith Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you. Zadie Smith spacewritingpeople The past is always tense, the future perfect. Zadie Smith futureperfectpast Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation’. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle’. All that matters is what you leave on the page. Zadie Smith pagesmatterwriting The world is now multicultural the same way the world is round. It's not a selling point, it's not a 'quirky' feature, it's not a cynical marketing ploy, it's not an artistic statement, it's not even a plot device. It's a fact, like seedless grapes. Zadie Smith quirkycynicalmarketing Time is how you spend your love. Zadie Smith Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories. Zadie Smith differentlifetwo I am the sole author of the dictionary that defines me. Zadie Smith dictionarysole Don't confuse honours with achievement. Zadie Smith honourachievement People don't settle for people. They resolve to be with them. It takes faith. You draw a circle in the sand and agree to stand in it and believe in it. Zadie Smith circlesbelievepeople She had that thing most people don't have - curiosity. She might not have always got the right answers, but she wanted to ask the questions. It's very hard if you are interested in ideas and all that, ideas and the philosophies of the past, it's very hard to find someone around here to really talk to. That's the tragedy of the thing really I mean, when you think about it. Certainly I can't find anyone around here to talk to anymore. And for a woman it's even harder you see. They can feel very trapped - because of the patriarchy. I do feel everyone needs to have these little chats now and then. Zadie Smith philosophymeanpast I read Carver. Julio Cortázar. Amis's essays. Baldwin. Lorrie Moore. Capote. Saramago. Larkin. Wodehouse. Anything, anything at all, that doesn't sound like me. Zadie Smith essayslike-mesound ...They cannot escape their history any more than you yourself can lose your shadow. Zadie Smith white-teethlosesshadow Step back from your Facebook Wall for a moment: Doesn't it, suddenly, look a little ridiculous? Your life in this format? Zadie Smith walllittleslooks Women often have a great need to portray themselves as sympathetic and pleasing, but we're also dark people with dark thoughts. Zadie Smith darkpeopleneeds She wore her sexuality with an older woman's ease, and not like an awkward purse, never knowing how to hold it, where to hang it, or when to just put it down. Zadie Smith womenawkwardknowing Nowadays, I know the true reason I read is to feel less alone, to make a connection with a consciousness other than my own. Zadie Smith connectionsconsciousnessreason If religion is the opiate of the people, tradition is an even more sinister analgesic, simply because it rarely appears sinister. If religion is a tight band, a throbbing vein, and a needle, tradition is a far homelier concoction: poppy seeds ground into tea; a sweet cocoa drink laced with cocaine; the kind of thing your grandmother might have made. Zadie Smith grandmothersweetpeople Learning how to be a good reader is what makes you a writer. Zadie Smith reader The end is simply the beginning of an even longer story. Zadie Smith endsstories The secret to editing your work is simple: you need to become its reader instead of its writer. Zadie Smith simplesecretediting
