In a democracy, people tend to get the kind of government they deserve. — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
Most people find they have to worry about money; if you don't ever, then in some fundamental way, you are cut off… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
It's as if people used the invention of seat belts as an opportunity to take up drunk driving. — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
People would rather earn 60 grand in an area where their neighbours earn 40, than earn 80 in an area where their… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
In the U.S., it is a crime to lie to a federal agent, and it's often this that sends people to jail… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
We wouldn't care so much what people thought of us if we knew how seldom they did. — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
A lot of the time in modern Britain, certainly in urban life, we barely have any contact at all with the people… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
I think the Internet was invented specifically to stop people finishing their books. And it does quite a good job. I don't… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
People misunderstand what a police state is. It isn't a country where the police strut around in jackboots; it's a country where… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
The 'stuff' in novels touches on every aspect of the world and people's lives. That's what makes it so remarkable just how… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
You heard people say forty was the new thirty and fifty was the new forty and sixty was the new forty-five, but… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
Our societies have achieved a general level of prosperity of which most of all the human beings who have ever lived could… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
I'd like to pretend to be all Olympian and above it, as if this is a phenomenon I'm observing from a great… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
One of the things I have noticed about my novels is that they all concern people who can't quite bring themselves to… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
“It seemed too as if many of the people were on display, behaving as if they expected to be looked at, as… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
It would be too glib, not a hundred per cent true, to say that my father's career as a banker was what… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
Richness, the ideas of having plenty of money, is not ... an absolute state. Richness is about the amount of money you… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
My standard Nando's order is a chicken breast burger served 'medium,' which is still fairly spicy. — John Lanchester Copy Share
“Bastiat (1801–1850) was a strikingly clear-minded early advocate of what came to be known as liberal economics, whose central idea is that the state… — John Lanchester Copy Share
“What was going on here was something Smitty had seen before: a young person’s first real farewell to the world of school and college,… — John Lanchester Copy Share
“It seemed too as if many of the people were on display, behaving as if they expected to be looked at, as if they… — John Lanchester Copy Share
But knowing that you had gone wrong, and knowing how you had gone wrong, were not the same thing as knowing how to put… — John Lanchester Copy Share
Video games are the first new artistic medium since television, but they are more different from television than television was from cinema; they are… — John Lanchester Copy Share
'Dead peasants insurance' is a term that sounds as if it comes straight out of Monty Python. If only that were true. — John Lanchester Copy Share
As an outsider to and observer of the restaurant business, one of the things I most admire about it is the risks people are… — John Lanchester Copy Share
The first ATM in Hong Kong was actually at the foot of the bank. I remember my father using it. And I find it… — John Lanchester Copy Share
Money is like poetry because both involve learning to communicate in a compressed language that packs a lot of meaning and consequence into the… — John Lanchester Copy Share
'Fine dining.' I'd love to know who coined the term and whether they meant it to be as offputting as it is. The words… — John Lanchester Copy Share
In sport, the money goes to the talent; it goes directly to the worker - unlike a bank, which sits in the middle of… — John Lanchester Copy Share
I love London in the rare parts of the year when it's quiet, and no time is more reliably quiet than the week between… — John Lanchester Copy Share
