In a democracy, people tend to get the kind of government they deserve. — John Lanchester Democracy 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
France and Britain have large culinary differences, but one thing they do share is a relatively low tolerance for modernist cooking. — John Lanchester Cooking Copy Share Image
I love short stories, but I've never had the impulse to write one. Same for ghost stories. — John Lanchester Ghost Copy Share Image
I think 'community,' in the sense in which politicians use, it is largely a cant term. — John Lanchester Community Copy Share Image
“Humans make their own history, but not under circumstances of their choosing.” — John Lanchester Choices Copy Share Image
The financial system in its current condition poses an existential threat to Western democracy far exceeding any terrorist threat. — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
Cheap money feels like the most natural thing in the world - if you don't think about why it's so cheap. — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
I write non-fiction quicker, and I write it on a computer. Fiction I write longhand, and that helps make it clear that… — John Lanchester Brain Copy Share Image
'The Big Short' is, among other things, a blistering, detailed indictment of the way Wall Street does business, and its particular villains… — John Lanchester Business Copy Share Image
The Internet makes writing about restaurants easier and more interesting in quite a few ways, one of the main ones being to… — John Lanchester Being Copy Share Image
In an ideal world, one populated by vegetarians and Esperanto speakers, derivatives would be used for one thing only: reducing levels of… — John Lanchester Betting Copy Share Image
I'm fortunate in having journalism as a sideline to pay the bills, and I essentially do it in order to take as… — John Lanchester Books Copy Share Image
If we are going to remake society in the image of the fight against terrorism and put that secret fight at the… — John Lanchester Fight Copy Share Image
Money isn't automatically freedom. You need to look carefully at what you're doing to earn the money before you can conclude that… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
“London was so rich, and also so green, and somehow so detailed: full of stuff that had been made, and bought, and… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
“And now here was Arabella, making him feel worse. Maybe that was what she always did; maybe she always made him feel… — John Lanchester Marriage Copy Share Image
Nobody in the developing world is going to take, as an answer to their aspirations, the developed world's reply: 'Sorry, you can't;… — John Lanchester Aspirations Copy Share Image
When I first travelled to New York in 1982 on a summer holiday as a student, I remember thinking how exciting it… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
It doesn't thrill me to bits that the state has to use the tools of electronic surveillance to keep us safe, but… — John Lanchester Common good Copy Share Image
“It's always the next pay raise, the next purchase, the next place you move to or go on holiday which will make… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
“No, Roger had not seen the funny side. But there had been a moment when, after looking at his watch, he had… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
“Bastiat (1801–1850) was a strikingly clear-minded early advocate of what came to be known as liberal economics, whose central idea is that… — John Lanchester Capitalism 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 Absolutes Copy Share Image
Tapas is one of the world's most civilised drinking and eating traditions. — John Lanchester Drinking Copy Share Image
“As Confucius says, under some circumstances murder can be forgiven; but unreasonableness never is.” — John Lanchester Confucius Copy Share Image
I rather envy writers who do variations on a theme. I like reading those books, but in practice, I can't do it. — John Lanchester Book Copy Share Image
I remember, the first few years here, I didn't like London much: too big, too crowded, the physical difficulty of getting around. — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
Why should the idea of Western liberal democracy automatically imply unregulated free-market capitalism? — John Lanchester Capitalism Copy Share Image
Economics as a discipline has in effect become the study of capitalism. The two are taken as the same subject. — John Lanchester Capitalism Copy Share Image
By the time I was three years old, I'd lived at 10 different addresses in six different countries. — John Lanchester Different countries Copy Share Image
There's an awful lot of us who don't quite speak finance, speak money. — John Lanchester Finance Copy Share Image
“Roger was not personally ambitious; he mainly wanted life not to make too many demands on him.” — John Lanchester Ambition 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 Jail Copy Share Image
We wouldn't care so much what people thought of us if we knew how seldom they did. — John Lanchester Care Copy Share Image
Dad was a very, very principled man, and he hated any kind of story where the baddies get away with it. — John Lanchester Dad Copy Share Image
Germany has to put the broader European interest on the same level as its own national interest, or the euro is toast. — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
“It’s that great British middle-class battle cry: “Something must be done!” — John Lanchester Battle Copy Share Image
We should all know our family's story, all the more so if nobody tells it to us directly and we have to… — John Lanchester Family Copy Share Image
A novel usually begins, in my experience, with a thought or image that won't leave me alone. — John Lanchester Alone Copy Share Image
