---
title: "2 Contemplate Quotes By Ian McEwan"
description: "2 Contemplate quotes by Ian McEwan. Plus more from Ian McEwan and more Contemplate sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/ian-mcewan-494_anticipate_she-wanted-to-leave-she-wanted-to-lie-al_1134582.png"
---

> [She wanted to leave, she wanted to lie alone face down on her bed and savor the vile piquancy of the moment, and go back down the lines of branching consequences to the point before the destruction began. She needed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/she-wanted-to-leave-she-wanted-to-lie-alone-face-down-on-her-bed-and/)

[Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/635/ian-mcewan-494_anticipate_she-wanted-to-leave-she-wanted-to-lie-al_1134582.png)

> [The primitive thinking of the supernaturally inclined amounts to what his psychiatric colleagues call a problem, or an idea, of reference. An excess of the subjective, the ordering of the world in line with your needs, an inability to contemplate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/the-primitive-thinking-of-the-supernaturally-inclined-amounts-to-what/)

[Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d7a/ian-mcewan-494_abandoned_the-primitive-thinking-of-the-supernatur_2849570.png)

## Other authors on Contemplate

## More by Ian McEwan

> [“As you will see, we do not believe that artists have an obligation to strike up attitudes to the war. Indeed, they are wise…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/as-you-will-see-we-do-not-believe-that-artists-have-an-obligation-to/)

[Ian McEwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [You could say that all novels are spy novels and all novelists are spy masters.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/you-could-say-that-all-novels-are-spy-novels-and-all-novelists-are/)

[Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [I've never had a moment's doubt. I love you. I believe in you completely. You are my dearest one. My reason for life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/i-ve-never-had-a-moment-s-doubt-i-love-you-i-believe-in-you/)

[Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [“It is shaming sometimes, how the body will not, or cannot, lie about emotions.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/it-is-shaming-sometimes-how-the-body-will-not-or-cannot-lie-about/)

[Ian McEwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [“While my friends struggled and calculated, I reached a solution by a set of floating steps that were partly visual, partly just a feeling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/while-my-friends-struggled-and-calculated-i-reached-a-solution-by-a/)

[Ian McEwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [“Once, on a walk by a river- Eskdale in low reddish sunlight, with a dusting of snow- his daughter quoted to him an opening…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/once-on-a-walk-by-a-river-eskdale-in-low-reddish-sunlight-with-a/)

[Ian McEwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [“Perhaps it's one of those cases of a microcosm giving you the whole world. Like a spode dinner plate. Or a single cell. Or,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/perhaps-it-s-one-of-those-cases-of-a-microcosm-giving-you-the-whole/)

[Ian McEwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [Who you get, and how it works out- there's so much luck involved, as well as the million branching consequences of your conscious choice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/who-you-get-and-how-it-works-out-there-s-so-much-luck-involved-as/)

[Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [“On Chesil Beach he could have called out to Florence, he could have gone after her. He did not know, or would not have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/on-chesil-beach-he-could-have-called-out-to-florence-he-could-have/)

[Ian McEwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [It was always the view of my parents...that hot weather encouraged loose morals among young people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/it-was-always-the-view-of-my-parents-that-hot-weather-encouraged/)

[Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [I apologize for being obvious, but every time I watch the curtain come down on even a halfway decent production of a Shakespeare play…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/i-apologize-for-being-obvious-but-every-time-i-watch-the-curtain-come/)

[Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [I would rather be physically disabled obviously than mentally. I would rather be paraplegic than nuts. And it is a terrifying prospect and actually…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/i-would-rather-be-physically-disabled-obviously-than-mentally-i-would/)

[Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [“Words, as I'm beginning to appreciate, can make things true.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/words-as-i-m-beginning-to-appreciate-can-make-things-true/)

[Ian McEwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [I couldn't think about novels at all. It seemed the only writing that was appropriate to that horrendous event was journalism, reportage. And, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/i-couldn-t-think-about-novels-at-all-it-seemed-the-only-writing-that/)

[Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

> [I did not kill my father, but I sometimes felt I had helped him on his way. And but for the fact that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-mcewan/i-did-not-kill-my-father-but-i-sometimes-felt-i-had-helped-him-on-his/)

[Ian Mcewan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-mcewan/)

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