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 More Quotes by William Boyd More Quotes From William Boyd We all possess, like it or not, the people we know, and are possessed by them in turn. William Boyd turnsknowspeople The last thing we ever learn about ourselves is our effect. William Boyd effectslasts 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 growingtreeworld 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 instinctbodythinking Sometimes limbo is a tolerable place to be stuck. William Boyd limbostucksometimes I let people off the hook too easily. William Boyd hookpeople 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 nuancelinesfilm 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 novelsuccessfulbook To live as an artist requires hard work or some extraordinary good fortune to come your way. William Boyd hard-workartistway There's a sense in all my novels that nothing is certain. William Boyd certainnovel 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 veinsencountersthinking I don't think they'll ever make a retro Bond. William Boyd retrothinking There is a disconnect between the film Bond and the literary Bond which is their contemporaneity. I don't suffer from that. William Boyd filmsuffering I have this lock of hair that keeps falling across my forehead. It drives me mad. William Boyd madhairfall We talked filth for a pleasant half hour. William Boyd filthhourshalf 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 bondmyselfyouworld Human beings are interested in the human condition. William Boyd conditionbeingshumanhuman-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 yourselfyoumemorieslife 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 alwaysdistancemusicworld I have always thought if you are going to make a film, it's much better to have an original script that will play to film's strengths. William Boyd willbetterthoughtyou
