“London created the Underground, and the Underground created London.” — John Lanchester London Copy Share Image
I do believe in that thing about the reading audience being very important to the formation of the novel at its birth. — John Lanchester Audience Copy Share Image
A novel usually begins, in my experience, with a thought or image that won't leave me alone. — John Lanchester Alone Copy Share Image
We should all know our family's story, all the more so if nobody tells it to us directly and we have to… — John Lanchester Family Copy Share Image
The 'stuff' in novels touches on every aspect of the world and people's lives. That's what makes it so remarkable just how… — John Lanchester Books Copy Share Image
I have a horror of going down dead ends, which you can easily do with a novel, spending months on it and… — John Lanchester Back Copy Share Image
Chefs get sucked into the trap of 'fine dining' because some guides make it central to their ratings system and because some… — John Lanchester Chefs Copy Share Image
Money is like poetry because both involve learning to communicate in a compressed language that packs a lot of meaning and consequence… — John Lanchester Language Copy Share Image
I'm a huge fan of Peter Jackson's 'Lord of the Rings' movies - I went to all three of them on the… — John Lanchester Day Copy Share Image
We don't want to think about money in an ideal life; in a well-lived life, money wouldn't be one of our primary… — John Lanchester Ideal Copy Share Image
'Community,' that loaded word so beloved of politicians, is simply not a reality in most people's lives. It's normal for us to… — John Lanchester Community Copy Share Image
Now that I'm an adult and have a big say in what we eat on Christmas Day, turkey doesn't even make it… — John Lanchester Big Copy Share Image
In the world where people with money overlap with restaurants and try to work out how to make more money, one of… — John Lanchester Desire Copy Share Image
Once I've properly finished a book, my ideal state of being would be to never think about it again. But with 'Capital,'… — John Lanchester Books Copy Share Image
We can all instinctively understand the idea of life insurance; most of us will feel an instinctive repugnance at the thought of… — John Lanchester Ideas Copy Share Image
To make three films out of one shortish book, they have to turn it into an epic, just as 'Lord of the… — John Lanchester Adventure Copy Share Image
“It gave her a sudden sense that it was now her turn to grow old, to find the world changing, sliding away… — John Lanchester Aging Copy Share Image
People misunderstand what a police state is. It isn't a country where the police strut around in jackboots; it's a country where… — John Lanchester Country Copy Share Image
“London was so rich, and also so green, and somehow so detailed: full of stuff that had been made, and bought, and… — John Lanchester Display Copy Share Image
Rising inequality is not a law of nature - it's not even a law of economics. It is a consequence of political… — John Lanchester Economics Copy Share Image
“Shahid was the free spirit of the Kamal family: a dreamer, an idealist, a wanderer on the face of the earth--or, as… — John Lanchester Dreamers Copy Share Image
“I myself have always disliked being called a "genius." It is fascinating to notice how quick people have been to intuit this… — John Lanchester Disliked Copy Share Image
It seems to me obviously axiomatic that markets are not magical, that they're organised in a range of regulated entities created by… — John Lanchester Conduct Copy Share Image
Once you learn to 'speak' money - which is what I felt I did through the research that led me to write… — John Lanchester Language Copy Share Image
You heard people say forty was the new thirty and fifty was the new forty and sixty was the new forty-five, but… — John Lanchester Eighty Copy Share Image
Inequality in the developed world fell for most of the 20th century; we can make it fall for most of the 21st… — John Lanchester Inequality Copy Share Image
For a while, I had a rule of no smartphone in bed, but now I've upgraded to no smartphone in the bedroom.… — John Lanchester Bed Copy Share Image
I don't answer the phone or do my email; I don't do anything until I've got the day's writing done. I have… — John Lanchester Day Copy Share Image
'Austerity' is a real weasel word because it's an attempt to make something value-based and abstract out of something which, in reality,… — John Lanchester Abstract Copy Share Image
As an outsider to and observer of the restaurant business, one of the things I most admire about it is the risks… — John Lanchester Business Copy Share Image
Because the Spanish eat so crazily late - anybody who's been to Spain has had the experience of sitting down at 9:30… — John Lanchester Experience Copy Share Image
I'm an omniviorous reader, but I don't read what could overlap with my own work. It's like tuning a radio frequency -… — John Lanchester Books Copy Share Image
In sport, the money goes to the talent; it goes directly to the worker - unlike a bank, which sits in the… — John Lanchester Bank Copy Share Image
The first ATM in Hong Kong was actually at the foot of the bank. I remember my father using it. And I… — John Lanchester Bank Copy Share Image
At the risk of being old-fartish, I like old-school wines that taste the way the winemaker intended, as opposed to organic and… — John Lanchester Being Copy Share Image
“In his experience with women, it was difficult to recover once things began to go wrong--once they had unreasonably decided that you… — John Lanchester Circumstances Copy Share Image
Nando's is a casual restaurant rather than a fast-food one - another aspirational touch. The food is energetically spiced, where so many… — John Lanchester Competition Copy Share Image
Fires and floods, we're hardwired to accept them or at least file them under Bad Things Happening. But there's something so abstract… — John Lanchester Abstract Copy Share Image
One of the things I have noticed about my novels is that they all concern people who can't quite bring themselves to… — John Lanchester Books Copy Share Image
During the 20th century, the greatest danger to European stability was Germany's sense of its special destiny. During the 21st century, the… — John Lanchester Danger Copy Share Image
