---
title: "2 Main Quotes By Will Self"
description: "2 Main quotes by Will Self. Plus more from Will Self and more Main sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e30/will-self-2296_american_the-main-differences-between-contemporar_2502360.jpg"
---

> [The main differences between contemporary English and American literature is that the baleful pseudo-professionalism imparted by all those crap M.F.A. writing programs has yet to settle like a miasma of standardization on the English literary scene. But it's beginning to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/the-main-differences-between-contemporary-english-and-american/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e30/will-self-2296_american_the-main-differences-between-contemporar_2502360.jpg)

> [The paradox of modernism is, writers make the decision to work with the continuous present, and to work with... stream of consciousness, as it's called, for emotional reasons, and the main emotional reason is verisimilitude. I mean, this is what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/the-paradox-of-modernism-is-writers-make-the-decision-to-work-with/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/97b/will-self-2296_consciousness_the-paradox-of-modernism-is-writers-make_2648379.png)

## More by Will Self

> [As for critical writing about modernism, its moments of lucidity are but fulgurations illuminating the dark and incomprehensible landscape of its subject's unabashed difficulty.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/as-for-critical-writing-about-modernism-its-moments-of-lucidity-are/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [“As my voice died away I became conscious of the voice of another woman two tables away. I couldn't hear what she was saying…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/as-my-voice-died-away-i-became-conscious-of-the-voice-of-another/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [That tertiary education is under a sustained assault by a political and - it often seems - social consensus that equates all education with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/that-tertiary-education-is-under-a-sustained-assault-by-a-political/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [I'm an anarchist. I'm implacably opposed to heirarchical systems of power and control. I also mistrust crowds, as they often operate according to their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/i-m-an-anarchist-i-m-implacably-opposed-to-heirarchical-systems-of/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [What fiction offers us is an intimacy shorn of the messy contingencies of human existence - gender, race, class or age. Those moments of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/what-fiction-offers-us-is-an-intimacy-shorn-of-the-messy/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [I'd rather fiddle with my phone for precious seconds than neglect an apostrophe; I'd rather insert a word laboriously keyed out than resort to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/i-d-rather-fiddle-with-my-phone-for-precious-seconds-than-neglect-an/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [I'm very happy for whatever plaudits might come the way of my work, but I never ever sit down to write x with y…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/i-m-very-happy-for-whatever-plaudits-might-come-the-way-of-my-work/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [As a writer, I'm not convinced that we are the best equipped to understand how we go about the business of literary production.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/as-a-writer-i-m-not-convinced-that-we-are-the-best-equipped-to/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [“I explained to him - as I withdrew the cup, ripped open the sachet and dunked the tea bag - that tea was an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/i-explained-to-him-as-i-withdrew-the-cup-ripped-open-the-sachet-and/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [There is something mysteriously powerful that can happen when young, inchoate minds come into contact with older and more worldly ones in a spirit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/there-is-something-mysteriously-powerful-that-can-happen-when-young/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [It would seem that I, who never could make much sense of physics when I was at school, have now gained a strong sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/it-would-seem-that-i-who-never-could-make-much-sense-of-physics-when/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [Drug use and procrastination often go hand in tourniquet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/drug-use-and-procrastination-often-go-hand-in-tourniquet/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [“…with the morbid realisation that his sexual being was a dull thing, a lifeless thing, a mass-produced marionette with chipped paint and fraying strings”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/with-the-morbid-realisation-that-his-sexual-being-was-a-dull-thing-a/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [A creative life cannot be sustained by approval any more than it can be destroyed by criticism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/a-creative-life-cannot-be-sustained-by-approval-any-more-than-it-can/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

> [I don't think in terms of that bizarre tautology 'value for money' in my literary and journalistic work - and nor will I in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-self/i-don-t-think-in-terms-of-that-bizarre-tautology-value-for-money-in/)

[Will Self](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-self/)

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