“He didn't like to be seen needing it - as if hunger were a sign of weakness.” — Lionel Shriver Hunger Copy Share Image
It's far less important to me to be liked these days than to be understood. — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“I've found that people's generalizations are largely illuminating about themselves.” — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“I am a bundle of other people's histories, a creature of circumstance.” — Lionel Shriver Circumstance Copy Share Image
The sign that I don't like the book I'm reading is finding myself watching reruns of 'Come Dine With Me.' — Lionel Shriver Book Copy Share Image
Weight having become politicised, anyone with a profile in the media who either subscribes to or departs from the template of tininess… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“No such thing as larger-than-life, Kellogg. There's only life-size, and any magnification is just other people's bullshit.” — Lionel Shriver Life size Copy Share Image
“I felt expendable, throw-away, swallowed by a big biological project that I didn't initiate or choose, that produced me but would also… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“Desire was its own reward, and a rarer luxury than you'd think. You could sometimes buy what you wanted; you could never… — Lionel Shriver Desire Copy Share Image
As a teenager, I ached to grow up even more than I dreaded to. I craved escape from my parents' impositions on… — Lionel Shriver Childhood Copy Share Image
In economics, 'competitiveness' does not describe Barack Obama's insistence on not only being president of the U.S. but also beating his staff… — Lionel Shriver Being Copy Share Image
“But the one thing he could not have imagined is that we were withholding nothing. That there was nothing on the other… — Lionel Shriver Nothing Copy Share Image
“I am confessedly and unashamedly almost fifty years old and never lie about my age because I want credit for every damned… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“Speak of the devil. Luella had wandered in wearing what might once have been a stylish frock, but the hem was shredded… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
A successful lie cannot be brought into this world and capriciously abandoned; like any committed relationship, it must be maintained, and with… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
In grad school, I took a workshop with Scott Spencer, whose excellent novel 'Endless Love' had just been turned into a film.… — Lionel Shriver Cinema Copy Share Image
“In fact, because the unself-aware—which includes basically everybody—are impervious to uncharitable perceptions of their underlying motives, all these insights you have into… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
The pediatrician must have thought me one of those neurotic mothers who craved distinction for her child but who in our civilization's… — Lionel Shriver Affliction Copy Share Image
Many, if not most, countries blithely expect their citizens to have carte blanche access to the U.S., "land of immigrants," as a… — Lionel Shriver Barriers Copy Share Image
The absence of doll babies in my toy chest didn't seriously influence my later decision not to become a mother; rather, I… — Lionel Shriver Alive Copy Share Image
Conservative supporters might either have the courage of their convictions or, if truly ashamed, revise them, but they should at least refute… — Lionel Shriver Conservative Copy Share Image
“Pregnancy had seemed a reasonable excuse for letting her metal-smithing tools languish, but that accounted for only eighteen months of the last… — Lionel Shriver Artists Copy Share Image
“Franklin, I was absolutely terrified of having a child. Before I got pregnant, my visions of child rearing- reading stories about cabooses… — Lionel Shriver Children Copy Share Image
“It was a short session of the simple being-ness that he had long coveted for The Afterlife. What Glynis had called "doing… — Lionel Shriver Companionship Copy Share Image
“I hazarded to your mother that tragedy seems to bring out all varieties of unexpected qualities in people. I said it was… — Lionel Shriver Disaster Copy Share Image
Holocausts do not amaze me. Rapes and child slavery do not amaze me. And Franklin, I know you feel otherwise, but Kevin… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“I had some idea of what I was supposed to say back: Now, I know you don’t mean that, when I knew… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“Outside, she thought that there ought to be a word for it: the air temperature that was perfectly neither hot nor cold.… — Lionel Shriver Happiness Copy Share Image
“The idea is that you don't only have one destiny. Younger and younger, kids are pressed to decide what they want to… — Lionel Shriver Advantages and disadvantages Copy Share Image
