There's a sense in all my novels that nothing is certain. William Boyd More Quotes by William Boyd More Quotes From William Boyd We never love anyone. Not really. We only love our idea of another person. It is some conception of our own that we love. We love ourselves, in fact. William Boyd personsfactsideas Dignity was the first quality to be abandoned when the heart took over the running of human affairs. William Boyd qualityheartrunning It's true: lives do drift apart for no obvious reason. We're all busy people,we can't spend our time simply trying to stay in touch. The test of a friendship is if it can weather these inevitable gaps. William Boyd true-lifeweatherpeople With film, you have very limited tools to convey subjectivity - voiceover, the camera's point of view, good acting - but even the very best actor in the world is crude by comparison with what you can do in a written paragraph. William Boyd camerasactingviews When it's mutual, a man and a woman know, instinctively, wordlessly. They may do nothing about it, but the knowledge of that shared desire is out there in the world - as obvious as neon, saying: I want you, I want you, I want you. William Boyd desiremenworld I have to start my real life soon, before I die of boredom and frustration. William Boyd boredomfrustrationreal I stood there in the kitchen, watching her staring across the meadow still searching for her nemesis and I thought, suddenly, that this is all our lives - this is the one fact that applies to us all, that makes us what we are, our common mortality, our common humanity. One day someone is going to come and take us away: you don't need to have been a spy, I thought, to feel like this. William Boyd common-humanityspykitchen The last thing you know about yourself is your effect. William Boyd effectsabout-yourselflasts Writing a film - more precisely, adapting a book into a film - is basically a relentless series of compromises. The skill, the "art," is to make those compromises both artistically valid and essentially your own. . . . It has been said before but is worth reiterating: writing a novel is like swimming in the sea; writing a film is like swimming in the bath. William Boyd writingbookart There are things in life we don't understand, and when we meet them, all we can do is let them alone. William Boyd things-in-lifecan-do I have teken refuge in the doctrine that advises one not to seek tranquility in certainty but in permanently suspended judgement. William Boyd tranquilitydoctrinejudgement In the broad spectrum of the arts, two worlds rarely overlap - the literary world and the world of rock music. William Boyd rockstwoart My novels are often about people who are in love or attracted to each other. William Boyd novelpeople In some ways, you could argue, television is doing far more interesting work than the movies. It's more fulfilling. William Boyd televisionwayinteresting Humankind can tolerate only so much rejection. William Boyd toleratehumankindrejection When you experience bereavement at a youngish age, you suddenly realise that life is unjust and unfair, that bad things will happen, and you have to take that on board. William Boyd bereavementboardsage I tend to admire dead people more than the living. All too often, human reality diminishes the glowing reputation. William Boyd glowingrealitypeople The only times we are consciously aware of the authorship of a photograph, I would argue, are when we contemplate the photographs we ourselves have taken (or those of friends and family) or when we go deliberately to the photographers monograph or exhibition. The signed image - the appropriated, the owned image - is by far the rarest in this pullulating world of pictures. William Boyd family-and-friendstakenworld She's half mad and three parts drunk. William Boyd drunkmadthree We keep a journal to entrap that collection of selves that forms us, the individual human being. William Boyd individualformself
