Tom Rachman

“...news' is often a polite way of saying 'editor's whim.”

— Tom Rachman

Art doesn't spring from the muses alone, but from hard work.

— Tom Rachman

“Nothing epitomizes the futility of human striving quite like aspartame.”

— Tom Rachman

“Journalism is a bunch of dorks pretending to be alpha males.”

— Tom Rachman

“As touchy as cabaret performers and as stubborn as factory machinists…”

— Tom Rachman

“One becomes more of a shit as one gets older.”

— Tom Rachman

“She is a wonderful nerd, and he hopes this won't change.”

— Tom Rachman

“The only death we experience is that of other people”

— Tom Rachman

“Miraculously, by the 10 P.M. deadline the paper had filled every line down every column, no matter the last-minute heart palpitations and…

— Tom Rachman

“There's a line from Heraclitus: No man steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he…

— Tom Rachman

“As for Humphrey, he was never renowned for tidiness. “My nature abhors the vacuum,” he said.”

— Tom Rachman

My own career started in New York at the 'Associated Press', a fast-paced news agency where we rarely had time for deep…

— Tom Rachman

“She hasn't known many Southerners. That twang and aw-shucks about him--it's sort of exotic.”

— Tom Rachman

What the art world has done, it has been constantly been pushing the boundaries about what art can be. It's like expanding…

— Tom Rachman

The strength of fiction is not in reading about yourself, but in reading about other people.

— Tom Rachman

“This is good for my ego after, like, two years of seeing Italian guys in pink sweaters and orange pants and, like,…

— Tom Rachman

My intent was to gain experience for fiction I eventually hoped to write. But there's no question I was drawn in by…

— Tom Rachman

I don't like most contemporary art. But I think if you talked to any person who's heavily involved in contemporary art, they'd…

— Tom Rachman

“He was a man who formed opinions as he spoke them, or perhaps afterward, requiring him to ramble at length to grasp…

— Tom Rachman

At the outset, my notion of being a writer was that you would have moments of inspiration and moments of frustration, when…

— Tom Rachman

“The purpose of clothing, as best he could tell, was to keep one unembarrassed and at the right temperature. If an outfit…

— Tom Rachman

The question I ask myself is what would have happened if newspapers hadn't initially given their content away for free on the…

— Tom Rachman

A common defense among obituary-fanciers such as myself is that the obit is not about death at all. It is about life.…

— Tom Rachman

“Four years ago, he'd nearly married. But his girlfriend went to do theater in London and met a new man there. They'd…

— Tom Rachman

“literally: This word should be deleted. All too often, actions described as “literally” did not happen at all. As in, “He literally…

— Tom Rachman

“What I really fear is time. That's the devil: whipping us on when we'd rather loll, so the present sprints by, impossible…

— Tom Rachman

“She is a wonderful nerd, and he hopes this won't change. He'd be distressed if she were cool-- it'd be as if…

— Tom Rachman

“You have to understand, Annika, that I have pretty much resigned myself to spinsterhood since, I don't know, since approximately my entire…

— Tom Rachman

“In his pocket, the mobile phone beeped and wriggled. They'd said on the radio that the entirety of human knowledge was available…

— Tom Rachman

“I built and I built— heaven knows I have done that well. Those skyscrapers, full of tenants, floor after floor, and not…

— Tom Rachman

“When she realizes that Nigel is having an affair, her first sentiment is satisfaction that she figured it out. Her second is…

— Tom Rachman

Anything that's worth anything is complicated.

— Tom Rachman

“The Internet is to news," he said, "what car horns are to music.”

— Tom Rachman

Remembering is the most overrated thing. Forgetting is far superior.

— Tom Rachman

“She doesn't remember the twentieth century. Isn't that terrifying?”

— Tom Rachman

“What is wrong with guys? Half are molting; half are nothing but undergrowth.”

— Tom Rachman

“Good reporting and good behavior are mutually exclusive.”

— Tom Rachman

Our worst fear isn't the end of life but the end of memories.

— Tom Rachman

“So why do you kiss someone?" she asks. "To give pleasure or to take it?”

— Tom Rachman

“She has been dreading tomorrow ever since it happened the first time.”

— Tom Rachman