It's not in good taste to have talking ghosts in a grown-up novel. Zadie Smith More Quotes by Zadie Smith More Quotes From Zadie Smith The arena of women's lives is somewhat more intimate. If a woman goes out with an incredibly attractive man and they break up, that woman is not more attractive to men. It's completely irrelevant to them. That's an example of the way women's minds work. Zadie Smith examplemindmen I often worry that my idea of personhood is nostalgic, irrational, inaccurate. Zadie Smith nostalgicworryideas Desire is never final, desire is imprecise and impractical [...] Zadie Smith finalsdesire I don't keep any copies of my books in the house - they go to my mum's flat. I don't like them around. Zadie Smith mumhousebook But sometimes it's like you just meet someone and you just know that you're totally connected, and this person is, like, your brother - or your sister. Even if they don't, like, recognize it, you feel it. And in a lot of ways it don't matter if they do or they don't see that for what it is - all you can do is put the feeling out there. That's your duty. Then you just wait and see what comes back to you. That's the deal. Zadie Smith brotherwaitingfeelings It seems that if you put people on paper and move them through time, you cannot help but talk about ethics, because the ethical realm exists nowhere if not here: in the consequences of human actions as they unfold in time, and the multiple interpretive possibility of those actions. Zadie Smith paperpeoplemoving The roots of rap are originally ghetto-ised or extremely working class. So when you're an artist who's making something which isn't how its mainstream appearance should be, there's always these strange questions of authenticity and what you have to do to be 'real' as a rapper. Zadie Smith ghettorapreal 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 battlebookpeople English fiction was something I loved growing up, and it changed my life - it changed the trajectory of my life. Zadie Smith growing-upchangedfiction When I was 21 I wanted to write like Kafka. But, unfortunately for me, I wrote like a script editor for The Simpsons who'd briefly joined a religious cult and then discovered Foucault. Such is life. Zadie Smith editorsreligiouswriting I'm most honest about writing when I'm talking to family or friends, not to newspapers. Zadie Smith honestwritingtalking I love to dance, and sing - in the shower, not in public. Im too old to go raving, but my fondest memories are of that kind of thing - dancing, with lots of people, outside if possible. Zadie Smith dancingmemoriespeople Cambridge was a joy. Tediously. People reading books in a posh place. It was my fantasy. I loved it. I miss it still. Zadie Smith readingbookpeople Sometimes Allah punishes and sometimes men have to do it, and it is a wise man who knows if it's Allah's turn or his own. Zadie Smith wisesometimesmen The lack of alternatives to an illegal action does not legitimise that action. Zadie Smith alternativesactiondoe As far as I'm concerned, if you want to find out about the last day of WWII or the roots of the Indian Mutiny, get thee to a books catalogue. Zadie Smith mutinyrootsbook This because it is never really very cold in England. It is drizzly, and the wind will blow; hail happens, and there is a breed of Tuesday in January in which time creeps and no light comes and the air is full of water and nobody really loves anybody, but still a decent jumper and a waxen jacket lined with wool is sufficient for every weather England's got to give. Zadie Smith lightairblow Can't a rapper insist, like other artists, on a fictional reality, in which he is somehow still on the corner, despite occupying the penthouse suite? Zadie Smith rapperartistreality It's difficult to tell the truth about how a book begins. The truth, as far as it can be presented to other people, is either wholly banal or too intimate. Zadie Smith telling-the-truthbookpeople If you're going to write a good book, you have to make mistakes and you have to not be so cautious all the time. Zadie Smith mistakewritingbook
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