But knowing that you had gone wrong, and knowing how you had gone wrong, were not the same thing as knowing how… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
“London created the Underground, and the Underground created London.” — John Lanchester London Copy Share Image
I do believe in that thing about the reading audience being very important to the formation of the novel at its birth. — John Lanchester Audience Copy Share Image
My standard Nando's order is a chicken breast burger served 'medium,' which is still fairly spicy. — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
The economics of setting up a new restaurant are scary in good times and terrifying in bad ones. — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
The early-'80s recession was good for good restaurants, not least because it put bad ones out of business. — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
The person doing the worrying experiences it as a form of love; the person being worried about experiences it as a form… — John Lanchester Fear Copy Share Image
The City is, in terms of its basic functioning, a far-off country of which we know little. — John Lanchester Business 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 Country Copy Share Image
Now that I'm an adult and have a big say in what we eat on Christmas Day, turkey doesn't even make it… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
'Community,' that loaded word so beloved of politicians, is simply not a reality in most people's lives. It's normal for us to… — John Lanchester Community Copy Share Image
We don't want to think about money in an ideal life; in a well-lived life, money wouldn't be one of our primary… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
I'm a huge fan of Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' movies - I went to all three of them on the… — John Lanchester Day Copy Share Image
Money is like poetry because both involve learning to communicate in a compressed language that packs a lot of meaning and consequence… — John Lanchester Language Copy Share Image
I grew up in Hong Kong, and London used to seem very gray: the sky was gray, the buildings were gray, the… — John Lanchester Buildings Copy Share Image
Celebrity farmer. Now there's a phrase that should be an oxymoron. There are farmers on both sides of my family, and I… — John Lanchester Celebrity Copy Share Image
“Petunia only ever went to the doctor reluctantly, and her motive in doing so was always the same: she did it in… — John Lanchester Anxiety Copy Share Image
“The economic metaphor came to be applied to every aspect of modern life, especially the areas where it simply didn't belong. In… — John Lanchester Economics Copy Share Image
“It gave her a sudden sense that it was now her turn to grow old, to find the world changing, sliding away… — John Lanchester Aging 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
To make three films out of one shortish book, they have to turn it into an epic, just as 'Lord of the… — John Lanchester Adventure Copy Share Image
We can all instinctively understand the idea of life insurance; most of us will feel an instinctive repugnance at the thought of… — John Lanchester Ideas Copy Share Image
Once I've properly finished a book, my ideal state of being would be to never think about it again. But with 'Capital,'… — John Lanchester Books Copy Share Image
Hospitality is central to the restaurant business, yet it's a hard idea to define precisely. Mostly, it involves being nice to people… — John Lanchester Business Copy Share Image
You can't explain collateralized debt obligation in a novel - it's too draggy. — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
The seven Ps: Proper Planning and Preparation Prevent Piss-Poor Performance — John Lanchester Performances Copy Share Image
I grew up abroad, and when I first passed through London in the 1970s, it seemed a drab and provincial place. — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
Security is a complicated idea and one with an immense potential to trap us - that was one lesson I learnt from… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
Photography brought a lot to painting because it forced artists to think about what painting could do that photography couldn't. — John Lanchester Art 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
'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 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
Chefs get sucked into the trap of 'fine dining' because some guides make it central to their ratings system and because some… — John Lanchester Chefs Copy Share Image
“In Shahid's view, the best way through difficult times, as through life in general, was just to go along with things. It… — John Lanchester Difficult time 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 Books Copy Share Image
I have a horror of going down dead ends, which you can easily do with a novel, spending months on it and… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
There is a moral underpinning to economics. And the kinds of questions that it asks and the kinds of solutions it proposes… — John Lanchester Copy Share Image
“You could not spend your entire span of life in thrall to the code of stuff. There was no code of stuff.… — John Lanchester Belongings Copy Share Image
I think smartphones are one of humanity's most remarkable creations: computers are amazing enough, but a supercomputer you can carry in your… — John Lanchester Amazing Copy Share Image
One of the things that happens to you if you write about restaurants - one of the reasons restaurant critics are the… — John Lanchester Business Copy Share Image
