Tremendous interest in the superficial is very characteristic of cultures in decline. Martin Amis More Quotes by Martin Amis More Quotes From Martin Amis If you feel you have a strong constituency among the young, you can really die happy, because the great unanswered question, the only valid value judgment is whether you're going to last, and that tells you that you are, for a bit at least. Martin Amis unanswered-questions lasts strong There's a lot of anti-intellectualism in Britain. And the writer's views on this or that are really of less importance, as they see it, than that of the man in the street. Martin Amis he-man views men Faith is a talent, and it goes the way of all your talents. Getting old is the subtraction of your powers. Which very much goes for writing. Martin Amis talent writing way You can't sort of write the novel as if you're taking dictation from heaven. Martin Amis novel writing heaven America still is the center of the world, and what happens in the American economy matters everywhere. Martin Amis matter america world My 12-year-old daughter said to me, "Enough with the subtitles, Daddy, for crying out loud." Because they always seem to cloud the issue rather than clarify it. Martin Amis daughter clouds years I would say I'm an ironist not a satirist. All you do is you take existing tendencies and crank them up, just turn up the volume dial. Which is a technique of science fiction, apart from anything else. Martin Amis crank technique fiction When policemen go to prison in England, they have as bad a time as a pedophile. Martin Amis policemen england prison It's good fun to create an unpredictable character. When he comes into the room, I don't know what he's going to do - I have to find my way. Martin Amis fun character way When I see a lot of young faces in the audience, it's just sort of sinking in how important that is. Because you're old enough now to identify them very strongly as being young - whereas before, of course they were young, because you were young. Now it's not like that. Martin Amis important enough faces Often it doesn't occur to you what kind of novel you're writing until quite late on. Martin Amis late kind writing I don't think I'd like Manhattan anymore. My mother-in-law lives there, and you go there. But I like looking at it from a distance. It's a fantastic sight - every time, it awes me. Martin Amis distance mother thinking I want incremental improvements. There's the record of all the revolutionary and violent change and extremism in general - it's dreadful. Martin Amis records improvement want I love the working class, and everyone from it that I've met, and think they're incredible witty, inventive - there's a lot of poetry there. A lot of rough stuff as well. What there is, too, is an awful lot of expressiveness and intelligence and originality down there. And a lot of thwarted intelligence. Martin Amis class witty thinking When I talk about the pleasure principle, I don't say there is only one kind of pleasure, there are many kinds of pleasure. Some pleasure is difficult. It should be for the reader as well as the writer. But it has to be pleasure. Martin Amis pleasure kind principles I think a lot of people who read fiction are interested in subtlety. But they wouldn't like my stuff. It's a bit too violent for many tastes. Martin Amis people fiction thinking Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb, and the rose grow without the thorn. Martin Amis lion lie rose art Watching an adaptation of your novel can be a violent experience: seeing your old jokes suddenly thrust at you can be alarming. But I started to enjoy 'Money' very quickly, and then I relaxed. Martin Amis you enjoy experience money
