The library was the place I went to find out what there was to know. It was absolutely essential. Zadie Smith More Quotes by Zadie Smith More Quotes From Zadie Smith Oh, I know that. You know me, baby, I cannot be broken. Takes a giant to snap me in half. Zadie Smith giantsbrokenbaby Don't live in a way that makes you feel dead. Zadie Smith feelsway 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 askssaidmen 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-awaymentwo 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-experienceagechildren Anyone over the age of thirty catching a bus can consider himself a failure. Zadie Smith catchingthirtyage 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 selfwishlooks 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 siblinggrowing-upweed You can't state difference and also state equality. We have to state sameness to understand equality. Zadie Smith samenessdifferencesstates 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 landmothercountry World makers, social network makers, ask one question first: 'How can I do it?' Zadie Smith social-networkworldfirsts 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 islandschildrenmoving 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 beliefselfcomfort Under every friendship there is a difficult sentence that must be said, in order that the friendship can be survived. Zadie Smith difficultsaidorder 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-outwritingpeople Everything shrinks. Individual character. Friendships. Language. Sensibility. Zadie Smith individuallanguagecharacter 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 twentiesstoriestrying I like books that don't give you an easy ride. I like the feeling of discomfort. The sense of being implicated. Zadie Smith feelingsgivingbook 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 mightbelievechildren 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
