All Ian Mcewan Quotes
- I did not kill my father, but I sometimes felt I had helped him on his way. And but for the fact that it coincided… Coincided
- I was an intimate sort of child who never spoke up in groups. I preferred close friends. Child
- I wouldn't mind being the lead guitarist in an incredibly successful rock band. However, I don't play the guitar. Band
- I'm quite good at not writing. Funny
- I've yet to meet somebody who said, 'Your stories are so revolting I couldn't read them.' Inspirational
- If I could write the perfect novella I would die happy. Die
- In my experience an appreciative letter from a fellow writer means a lot. Appreciative
- Novelists have to be adept at controlling the flow of information, and, most crucially, they have to be in charge of the narrative. Adept
- Oh, I've become immune to the Booker. I think we need something a little more like the Pulitzer prize, where there isn't this great race. Become Immune
- One has to have the courage of one's pessimism. Courage
- Perhaps the greatest reading pleasure has an element of self-annihilation. To be so engrossed that you barely know you exist. Annihilation
- The best way to tell people about climate change is through non-fiction. There's a vast literature of outstanding writing on the subject. Best
- What is it precisely, that feeling of 'returning' from a poem? Something is lighter, softer, larger - then it fades, but never completely. Completely
- It is not the first duty of the novelist to provide blueprints for insurrection, or uplifting tales of successful resistance for the benefit of the… Benefit
- Scientists do stand on the shoulders of giants, just as do writers. Conversely, in the arts we do make discoveries. We do refine our tools.… Arguing
- What I've discovered and really confirmed to myself is that opera really likes loud colours, and you need something bold, something savage, unpredictable, passionate. You… Bold
- Now, I'm an atheist. I really don't believe for a moment that our moral sense comes from a god. Atheist
- I want to live in a place where strangers rush to help someone in distress. Distress
- Not being boring is quite a challenge. Boring
- The end of secrecy would be the end of the novel - especially the English novel. The English novel requires social secrecy, personal secrecy. End
- True intelligence requires fabulous imagination. Fabulous
- One important theme is the extent to which one can ever correct an error, especially outside any frame of religious forgiveness. All of us have… All
- A twenty-one-year-old writer is likely to be inhibited by a lack of usable experience. Childhood and adolescence were something I knew. Adolescence
- At the risk of sounding like Virginia Woolf, I could live on £700 a year. Like Virginia
- I actually find novels that are determined to be funny at every turn quite oppressive. Actually Find