...hoarders of guilty secrets are inevitably consumed with appearances. — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“He was already intuiting that attachment - if only to a squirt gun - made him vulnerable.” — Lionel Shriver Attachment Copy Share Image
“One of us could always get pancreatic cancer,” you said pleasantly.” — Lionel Shriver Cancer Copy Share Image
Oddly, for a book to do well merely because people like it is surprisingly rare. — Lionel Shriver Book Copy Share Image
In Shaker Heights, Ohio, one of America's first planned communities, order and harmony are prized. — Lionel Shriver America Copy Share Image
Life is never easy so that is why I never lie about my age. I want credit for every damned year. — Lionel Shriver Age Copy Share Image
It is never persuasive to argue that you are not the kind of person who does what you are actually doing. — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
Beauty is aspirational - an ideal that mortals approach but seldom attain. — Lionel Shriver Approach Copy Share Image
“Should what you get up to fail to comport with who you think you are, something is surely inaccurate (and likely optimistic)… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
Though it may be more romantic to picture the bereaved as gaunt, I imagine you can grieve as efficiently with chocolates as… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
Awful film adaptations follow novelists for the rest of their lives. An atrocious movie of 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' could… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“Just because there are lots of them doesn't mean that it isn't a privilege to live in a time when you can… — Lionel Shriver Apple pie Copy Share Image
“Casting my own eye down Fifth Avenue as my belly swelled, I would register with incredulity: Every one of these people came… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
The financial industry may not be synonymous with economics, but it does control a large enough sector of the global economy to… — Lionel Shriver Control Copy Share Image
“Like most disguises, the cover-up was worse than honest flaw, a lesson I had yet to register on my own account.” — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
As individuals are best off believing they control their behaviour, the judiciary is best off imputing that control - barring powerful extenuating… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
Perhaps I overemphasized the value of keeping busy… I liked to imagine that I was incapable of doing nothing for afternoons myself,… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
Yet if there's no reason to live without a child, how could there be with one? To answer one life with a… — Lionel Shriver Aimlessness Copy Share Image
In the era of Venus Williams, girliness and goo isn't the way to every woman's heart. Yet publishers presume that women only… — Lionel Shriver Books Copy Share Image
“Whenever I see fat people, they're eating," I ruminated safely out of the diner's earshot. "Don't give me this it's glands or… — Lionel Shriver Eating Copy Share Image
“We all do it (or I used to-yes, once in a while, Franklin, what did you think?), we all know we all… — Lionel Shriver Sexuality Copy Share Image
...You can only subject people to anguish who have a conscience. You can only punish people who have hopes to frustrate or… — Lionel Shriver Anguish Copy Share Image
My agent had warned that, while a fine film would do my profile a world of good, a bad one wouldn't help… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“Exasperatingly, we're all pretty much restricted to learning what people are like with the permanent confound of our own presence, which is… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
Now, bitterly, with one sweep of the front door, the compassion was spent. To the degree that Lawrence's face was familiar, it… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“My story is about all I got to my name right now, and that's why I feel robbed. But a story's a… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“I did feel a concentrated dislike for those boys, who couldn't submit to the odd faithless girlfriend, needling classmate, or dose of… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“Couples stray,” said Edgar. “Part of the breaking-in process.” “Not breaking in, breaking.” Nicola differed sharply. “You can glue people together again.… — Lionel Shriver Adults Copy Share Image
“And of course Brian was far more upset about separation from those two blond moppets than about leaving Louise. There shouldn't be… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“Cynics are spoiled romantics. They are always the ones who had the highest expectations at the start. They were once so naïve… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
“I'm unsure why one trifling incident this afternoon has moved me to write to you. But since we've been separated, I may… — Lionel Shriver Coming home Copy Share Image
But keeping secrets is a discipline. I never use to think of myself as a good liar, but after having had some… — Lionel Shriver Copy Share Image
