There's a horrible fallacy that exists in the popular discussion of fiction these days: the idea that a successful central character need be 'likeable' or 'sympathetic'. It is surely more important that they be human, no? More crucial that they… — Andrew O'Hagan Copy Share Image
When I look back at my childhood on the Ayrshire coast, I recall a basic devotion to the idea that human nature and national character are as unknowable as the weather's rationale. — Andrew O'Hagan Copy Share Image
The first rule of travel is that you should always go with someone you love, which is why I travel alone. — Andrew O'Hagan Copy Share Image
You'll find that no pride is greater than the pride that comes with being thick. Britain is filled with people who are really proud… — Andrew O'Hagan Copy Share Image
I always knew I would come to London. I loved Glasgow, but it seemed filled with echoes of my parents' lives, and sometimes you… — Andrew O'Hagan Copy Share Image
When you grow up by the sea, you spend a good deal of time looking at the horizon. You wonder what on Earth the… — Andrew O'Hagan Copy Share Image
“But she was half in love with chaos... With all her yearning for the ordinary life, she was born to admire outsiders. You could… — Andrew O'Hagan Copy Share Image
Long before I was a writer, when I was just a haphazard reader and a dreamer of stories, I learnt about an influential book… — Andrew O'Hagan Copy Share Image
Fans of football and fans of nationhood have a similar zeal. Read the fanzines: their contributors could find a needle-sized diss in a haystack… — Andrew O'Hagan Copy Share Image
Writing a novel is an act of self-annihilation as much as self-discovery. You can kill whole appetites and flood whole depths while plumbing them,… — Andrew O'Hagan Copy Share Image
It's not a crime not to know yourself. It's not a crime to send life away. It's just a shame. — Andrew O'Hagan Copy Share Image
Art you can flush down the loo means nothing to me, even were the loo to be selected by Marcel Duchamp — Andrew O'Hagan Copy Share Image
