---
title: "1 Foreign Ideas Quotes By Nicholson Baker"
description: "1 Foreign Ideas quotes by Nicholson Baker. Plus more from Nicholson Baker and more Foreign Ideas sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/569/nicholson-baker-3405_brain_friends-both-the-imaginary-ones-you-buil_2424881.png"
---

> [Friends, both the imaginary ones you build for yourself out of phrases taken from a living writer, or real ones from college, and relatives, despite all the waste of ceremony and fakery and the fact that out of an hour…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/friends-both-the-imaginary-ones-you-build-for-yourself-out-of-phrases/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/569/nicholson-baker-3405_brain_friends-both-the-imaginary-ones-you-buil_2424881.png)

## More by Nicholson Baker

> [I did not know that the planning for biological and chemical warfare was so widespread in England, and even in France before France fell.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/i-did-not-know-that-the-planning-for-biological-and-chemical-warfare/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [Just as the people who lived through the Second World War thought different things on different days, I think everybody who goes through that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/just-as-the-people-who-lived-through-the-second-world-war-thought/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [I’ve always thought of myself as shy,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/i-ve-always-thought-of-myself-as-shy/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [There's something paralyzing about being a writer that you have to escape. I don't want to think of myself as a guy who's written…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/there-s-something-paralyzing-about-being-a-writer-that-you-have-to/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [The great thing about novels is that you can be as unshy as you want to be. I'm very polite in person. I don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/the-great-thing-about-novels-is-that-you-can-be-as-unshy-as-you-want/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [“Why are things beautiful? I don´t know. That´s a good question. Isn´t it pleasing when you ask a question of a person, a teacher,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/why-are-things-beautiful-i-don-t-know-that-s-a-good-question-isn-t-it/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [I'm suspicious of full-replacement programs - that is, pronouncements that one way of doing something will entirely supplant another, and that in fact we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/i-m-suspicious-of-full-replacement-programs-that-is-pronouncements/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [Printed books usually outlive bookstores and the publishers who brought them out. They sit around, demanding nothing, for decades. That's one of their nicest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/printed-books-usually-outlive-bookstores-and-the-publishers-who/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [“The neurons that do expire are the ones that made imitation possible. When you are capable of skillful imitation, the sweep of choices before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/the-neurons-that-do-expire-are-the-ones-that-made-imitation-possible/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [What's somewhat puzzling is that Churchill himself knew what the reaction would be to any sort of aerial attack on cities, because in 1938…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/what-s-somewhat-puzzling-is-that-churchill-himself-knew-what-the/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [Shoes are the first adult machines we are given to master.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/shoes-are-the-first-adult-machines-we-are-given-to-master/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [As soon as you start doing that - changing things - it seems self-evident to me that you've entered the world of make-believe. If…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/as-soon-as-you-start-doing-that-changing-things-it-seems-self-evident/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [I don't do all that well in the writerly world. I'm happier being outside the flow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/i-don-t-do-all-that-well-in-the-writerly-world-i-m-happier-being/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [E.B. White's essays are the best things I've read about Maine - especially the one in which he's not sure if he can go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/e-b-white-s-essays-are-the-best-things-i-ve-read-about-maine/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

> [“The fact that we had independently decided to sweep our apartments on that Sunday afternoon after spending the weekend together, I took as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/the-fact-that-we-had-independently-decided-to-sweep-our-apartments-on/)

[Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/)

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