People profess to have certain political positions, but their conservatism or liberalism is really the least interesting thing about them. Zadie Smith More Quotes by Zadie Smith More Quotes From Zadie Smith The very reason I write is so that I might not sleepwalk through my entire life. Zadie Smith reason writing might Oh, I know that. You know me, baby, I cannot be broken. Takes a giant to snap me in half. Zadie Smith giants broken baby Don't live in a way that makes you feel dead. Zadie Smith feels way I don't ask myself what did I live for, said Carlene strongly. That is a man's question. I ask whom did I live for. Zadie Smith asks said men When the male organ of a man stands erect, two thirds of his intelect go away. And one third of his religion. Zadie Smith going-away men two This is what a woman is: unadorned, after children and work and age, and experience-these are the marks of living. Zadie Smith age-and-experience age children Anyone over the age of thirty catching a bus can consider himself a failure. Zadie Smith catching thirty age It reminds me that those of us who turn in disgust from what we consider an overinflated liberal-bourgeois sense of self should be careful what we wish for: our denuded networked selves don't look more free, they just look more owned. Zadie Smith self wish looks They had nothing to say to each other. A five-year age gap between siblings is like a garden that needs constant attention. Even three months apart allows the weeds to grow up between you. Zadie Smith sibling growing-up weed You can't state difference and also state equality. We have to state sameness to understand equality. Zadie Smith sameness differences states A trauma is something one repeats and repeats, after all, and this is the tragedy of the Iqbals--that they can't help but reenact the dash they once made from one land to another, from one faith to another, from one brown mother country into the pale, freckled arms of an imperial sovereign. Zadie Smith land mother country World makers, social network makers, ask one question first: 'How can I do it?' Zadie Smith social-network world firsts Because immigrants have always been particularly prone to repetition - it's something to do with that experience of moving from West to East or East to West or from island to island. Even when you arrive, you're still going back and forth; your children are going round and round. There's no proper term for it - original sin seems too harsh; maybe original trauma would be better. Zadie Smith islands children moving The belief that consciousness extends beyond death is surely to put more belief in the permanence of self, not less. That seems to me a comfort that you're allowing yourself. Zadie Smith belief self comfort Under every friendship there is a difficult sentence that must be said, in order that the friendship can be survived. Zadie Smith difficult said order The young people have a phrase for this now, which is "slay in your lane." That's a very important principle of writing. You have to work out what it is you can't do, obscure it, and focus on what works. Zadie Smith work-out writing people Everything shrinks. Individual character. Friendships. Language. Sensibility. Zadie Smith individual language character My short stories have always pushed twenty pages. That's no length for a short story to be. You either do them short like Carver or you stop trying. Zadie Smith twenties stories trying I like books that don't give you an easy ride. I like the feeling of discomfort. The sense of being implicated. Zadie Smith feelings giving book I always remind myself that [ Jean-Paul] Sartre and [Simone] de Beauvoir didn't have children. And when you don't have children, it might be easier to believe that the child doesn't come with something. Zadie Smith might believe children
