When novels deal in abstractions, they generally go off the rails. Philipp Meyer More Quotes by Philipp Meyer More Quotes From Philipp Meyer The entire history of humanity is marked by a single inexorable movement - from animal instinct toward rational thought, from inborn behavior toward acquired knowledge. A half-grown panther abandoned in the wilderness will grow up to be a perfectly normal panther. But a half-grown child similarly abandoned will grow up into an unrecognizable savage, unfit for normal society. Yet there are those who insist the opposite: that we are creatures of instinct, like wolves. Philipp Meyer growing-up animal children Give a small number of people the power to enrich themselves beyond everyone's wildest dreams, a philosophical rationale to explain all the damage they're causing, and they will not stop until they've run the world economy off a cliff. Philipp Meyer philosophical dream running Nothing prepares you for making art except making art. You have to do it to get better. Philipp Meyer get-better art When you start to look at Native American history, you realize that, very far from being a peaceful, morally superior people, Native Americans were not that different from Europeans. Philipp Meyer peaceful native-american people If no one heard your sounds then you did not really make them. Philipp Meyer ifs heard sound When I finish a book, I get extremely restless; I have to aggressively find ways to occupy myself; going off into the woods alone, doing things that are physically or mentally demanding to keep myself busy until the next big idea comes. Philipp Meyer woods book ideas You have to believe in yourself and only trust your own vision and instincts. If Id listened to what other people thought about my work in the first 10 years that I was a writer, I never would have made it to begin with. Philipp Meyer believe people years At 16, I dropped out of school and spent five years working as a bicycle mechanic and volunteering in a Trauma Centre before ultimately deciding to go to university. Philipp Meyer volunteer years school Each time a high-wage job is lost, a family is turned upside down. And that affects the communities where they live. Philipp Meyer down-and community jobs My first published novel, American Rust, took three and a half years of full-time work to write. But I wrote two apprentice novels before that. Philipp Meyer writing two years We moved to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1979, when I was five. The funny thing is that, even though Baltimore had one of the top murder rates in the country in those days, I grew up hearing about how dangerous New York was. Philipp Meyer funny-things new-york country She wondered how people would remember her. She had not made enough to spread her wealth around like Carnegie, to erase any sins that had attached to her name, she had failed, she had not reached the golden bough. The liberals would cheer her death. They would light marijuana cigarettes and drive to their sushi restaurants and eat fresh food that had traveled eight thousand miles. They would spend all of supper complaining about people like her, and when they got home their houses would be cold and they'd press a button on a wall to get warm. The whole time complaining about big oil. Philipp Meyer wall cheer home No land was ever acquired honestly in the history of the earth. Philipp Meyer honestly land earth You ought to be able to grow up in a place and not have to get the hell out of it when you turn eighteen. Philipp Meyer hell growing-up able The era of the cattle baron is over, the Son. Philipp Meyer entertainment I didn't fit the typical profile of a trader. I was an English major working on a novel at night. Most everyone else was a maths or economics major; most everyone else had relatives or family in banking. Philipp Meyer relatives economics family night Texas was mostly short-grass and tall-grass prairie when modern Europeans arrived here. It really was a land of milk and honey. But when they brought all these cattle onto these relatively small bits of land, and the cattle were allowed to graze freely, they essentially destroyed the prairie. Philipp Meyer small milk land honey Life throws up enough road blocks to keep you from writing; you can't be adding to them yourself by saying you can only write in one specific place. I'm in New York half the time and Texas half the time, and I work wherever - in my computer bag I have some foam ear plugs that I can put in. Philipp Meyer you work time life You don't make a decision about being a writer. There was a point, aged 21, when it became clear that this is who I am. The choice is how good you are going to be at it and how hard you are going to work. Philipp Meyer i-am good you work Since I quit banking, all my major life decisions, when they could, have revolved around writing. Philipp Meyer quit decisions writing life
