Why should anything happen when everything has happened? Julian Barnes More Quotes by Julian Barnes More Quotes From Julian Barnes Early in life, the world divides crudely into those who have had sex and those who haven't. Later, into those who have known love, and those who haven't. Later still - at least, if we are lucky (or, on the other hand, unlucky) - it divides into those who have endured grief, and those who haven't. These divisions are absolute; they are tropics we cross. Julian Barnes grief sex hands Memories of childhood were the dreams that stayed with you after you woke. Julian Barnes childhood dream memories The best form of government is one that is dying, because that means it’s giving way to something else. Julian Barnes government giving mean I know this much: that there is objective time, but also subjective time, the kind you wear on the inside of your wrist, next to where the pulse lies. And this personal time, which is the true time, is measured in your relationship to memory. Julian Barnes pulse memories lying Grief seems at first to destroy not just all patterns, but also to destroy a belief that a pattern exists. Julian Barnes patterns grief firsts I am death-fearing. I don't think I'm morbid. That seems to me a fear of death that goes beyond the rational. Whereas it seems to me to be entirely rational to fear death! Julian Barnes morbid fear-of-death thinking You lose the world for a glance? Of course you do. That is what the world is for: to lose under the right circunstances. Julian Barnes glances courses world Global warming is more of a blessing than a curse. Julian Barnes global-warming wine blessing He always thought that Touie's long illness would somehow prepare him for her death. He always imagined that grief anf guilt, if they followed, would be more clear-edged, more defined, more finite. Instead they seem like weather, like clouds constantly re-forming into new shapes, blown by nameless, unidentifiable winds. Julian Barnes grief clouds wind Poets seem to write more easily about love than prose writers. For a start, they own that flexible ‘I’…. Then again, poets seem able to turn bad love – selfish, shitty love – into good love poetry. Prose writers lack this power of admirable, dishonest transformation. We can only turn bad love into prose about bad love. So we are envious (and slightly distrustful) when poets talk to us of love. Julian Barnes good-love selfish writing There is a German word, Sehnsucht, which has no English equivalent; it means 'the longing for something'. It has Romantic and mystical connotations; C.S. Lewis defined it as the 'inconsolable longing' in the human heart for 'we know not what'. It seems rather German to be able to specify the unspecifiable. The longing for something - or, in our case, for someone. Julian Barnes able heart mean This is what those who haven’t crossed the tropic of grief often fail to understand: the fact that someone is dead may mean that they are not alive, but doesn’t mean that they do not exist. Julian Barnes alive grief mean Perhaps the world progresses not by maturing, but by being in a permanent state of adolescence, of thrilled discovery. Julian Barnes progress discovery world When we fall in love, we hope - both egotistically and altruistically - that we shall be finally, truly seen: judged and approved. Of course, love does not always bring approval: being seen may just as well lead to a thumbs-down and a season in hell. Julian Barnes thumbs-down falling-in-love doe If you’re that clever you can argue yourself into anything. Julian Barnes ifs clever arguing Irony ... may be defined as what people miss. Julian Barnes missing writing people I hate the way the English have of not being serious about being serious, I really hate it. Julian Barnes hate serious way I have an instinct for survival, for self-preservation. Julian Barnes instinct survival self I was initially planning to write about grief in terms of Eurydice and the myth thereof. By that point the overall metaphor of height and depth and flat and falling and rising was coming into being in my mind. Julian Barnes grief writing fall Did you know that there is no exact rhyme in the Russian language for the word 'pravda'? Ponder and weigh this insufficiency in your mind. Doesn't that just echo down the canyons of your soul? Julian Barnes echoes soul mind
