The tree of nonsense is watered with error, and from its branches swing the pumpkins of disaster. Nick Harkaway More Quotes by Nick Harkaway More Quotes From Nick Harkaway Ninjas are silly. They are the flower fairies of gong fu and karate. Nick Harkaway ninjaflowersilly Children, bored and opinionated, are scholars of the most dogmatic stripe. Nick Harkaway stripesboredchildren A cherry pie is . . . ephemeral. From the moment it emerges from the oven it begins a steep decline: from too hot to edible to cold to stale to mouldy, and finally to a post-pie state where only history can tell you that it was once considered food. The pie is a parable of human life. Nick Harkaway pieephemeralhot If we one day cease to exist, what will be remarkable is that we were ever here at all. Nick Harkaway remarkableone-dayifs Never mind, never mind, let's get to the part where we smite the unrighteous. I've brought my most alarming teeth! Nick Harkaway teethmind It's not that any sufficiently advanced technology is magic, it's that any technology taking place beyond the threshold of our senses is. Nick Harkaway thresholdmagictechnology Newton's work on gravity led to the discovery of the Lagrange point, a place where opposing forces cancel one another out, and a body may remain at relative rest. This is where I am right now; the forces in my life confound one another. Better, for the moment, to be here and now, without history or future. Nick Harkaway bodymaydiscovery People don't want children to know what they need to know. They want their kids to know what they ought to need to know. If you're a teacher you're in a constant battle with mildly deluded adults who think the world will get better if you imagine it is better. You want to teach about sex? Fine, but only when they're old enough to do it. You want to talk politics? Sure, but nothing modern. Religion? So long as you don't actually think about it. Otherwise some furious mob will come to your house and burn you for a witch. Nick Harkaway teacherchildrensex Nowhere have I ever heard of Satan taking the form of an avuncular hippie. No doubt he could. It just seems inefficient. Nick Harkaway satanhippiedoubt In a lot of places, of course, the '80s had never really come to an end. Nick Harkaway 80scoursesends ARGH! There's no such thing [as writer's block]. Seriously: THERE. IS. NO. SUCH. THING. You know what there is? There's a bunch of problems, creative and otherwise, that can stop you writing. They are not block. They are important skills. Nick Harkaway blockskillswriting The Brit abroad is always the voice of caution. Persons of other cultures are known to be undisciplined, prone to leaning out of car windows and cooking with garlic. Nick Harkaway other-culturescarvoice My wife runs the charity Reprieve, and so rendition, droning, and capital punishment are very much the topics of our dinner table because of that. Nick Harkaway dinnerpunishmentcharitywife In a social context, digital technology introduces you to neighbours of the mind - people who are separated by distance, but close to you in thought and interest. Nick Harkaway youtechnologymindpeople Yes, you are under surveillance. Yes, it is odious. Yes, it should bother you. And yes, it's hard to know how to avoid it. Nick Harkaway avoidknowyouhard I wrote the first draft of 'Tigerman' while my wife was pregnant - needless to say, I was relaxed and casual about her well-being during this tender time - and the novel clearly has its center in that panicked parental desperation that accompanies a first child and in the admittedly comedic extremes to which it drives us. Nick Harkaway saychildwifetime Peace is not a state - it is a choice, and you have to remake it every day. It's possible to get a sort of stability, a habit of peace, but it's like an egg balanced, spinning, on its point: lose your momentum, and your equilibrium is gone, too. Nick Harkaway every-daydayyoupeace My dad and I compete on the pool table; that's the most important competition of our lives. The fact that I'm writing and it works for me is one of the great joys for him. We talk about writing, and it's great. Nick Harkaway greatmecompetitiondad Executive power in any nation arguably has more in common with executive power in another country than with the citizens it should serve. Nick Harkaway nationmorepowercountry The First World War was a horror of gas, industrialised slaughter, fear, and appalling human suffering. Nick Harkaway sufferingfearwarworld
