Ifs Quotes by J. G. Ballard

8 Ifs quotes by J. G. Ballard

A novelist who turned dystopia into meditation often asked “what if.” J. G. Ballard’s eight short reflections on the theme provide a quick, unsettling glimpse into his visionary mind.

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If I don't write, I begin to feel unsettled and uneasy, as I gather people do who are not allowed to dream.

J. G. Ballard

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A general rule: if enough people predict something, it won't happen.

J. G. Ballard

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I believe that if it were possible to scrap the whole of existing literature, all writers would find themselves inevitably producing something…

J. G. Ballard

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All through my career I've written 1,000 words a day - even if I've got a hangover. You've got to discipline yourself…

J. G. Ballard

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If you can smell garlic, everything is all right.

J. G. Ballard

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I've never suffered from writer's block. I have plenty of ideas, sometimes too many. I've always had a strong imagination. If it…

J. G. Ballard

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Hell is out of fashion - institutional hells at any rate. The populated infernos of the 20th century are more private affairs,…

J. G. Ballard

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Enlightened legislation or enlightened social activity of whatever kind, does play into the hands of people with agendas of their own. If…

J. G. Ballard

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More by J. G. Ballard

Science and technology multiply around us. To an increasing extent they dictate the languages in which we speak and think. Either we use those…

J. G. Ballard

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There are some people, who place enormous value on their home and feel that it defines them, that a stain on the carpet is…

J. G. Ballard

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A reality that is electronic... Once everybody's got a computer terminal in their home, to satisfy all their needs, all the domestic needs, there'll…

J. G. Ballard

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If you're against globalisation, it doesn't achieve much by sort of bombing the head offices of Shell or Nestle. You unsettle people much more…

J. G. Ballard

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The suburbs dream of violence.

J. G. Ballard

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I made a very slatternly mother, notably unkeen on housework, unaware that homes need to be cleaned now and then, and too often to…

J. G. Ballard

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I was in Shanghai when the Japanese invaded China. I was there in Shanghai when, the morning after Pearl Harbor, they seized Shanghai.

J. G. Ballard

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Electronic aids, particularly domestic computers, will helpthe inner migration, the opting out of reality. Reality is no longer going to be the stuff out…

J. G. Ballard

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Perhaps the future belongs to magic, and it's we women who control magic.

J. G. Ballard

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Any fool can write a novel but it takes real genius to sell it.

J. G. Ballard

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I work for three or four hours a day, in the late morning and early afternoon. Then I go out for a walk and…

J. G. Ballard

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Even one's own home is a kind of anthology of advertisers, manufacturers, motifs and presentation techniques. There's nothing 'natural' about one's home these days.…

J. G. Ballard

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I was born in the city's general hospital on November 15, 1930, and we lived at 31 Amherst Avenue in the western suburbs. It…

J. G. Ballard

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I suspect that many of the great cultural shifts that prepare the way for political change are largely aesthetic. A Buick radiator grille is…

J. G. Ballard

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Orwell's '1984' convinced me, rightly or wrongly, that Marxism was only a quantum leap away from tyranny. By contrast, Huxley's 'Brave New World' suggested…

J. G. Ballard

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