Attempting Quote by Jonathan Coe

“But I have always - ever since The Accidental Woman - written novels about individuals attempting to make choices in the context of situations over which they have no control.” quote by Jonathan Coe — Download Open image

“But I have always - ever since The Accidental Woman - written novels about individuals attempting to make choices in the context of situations over which they have no control.”

Jonathan Coe

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Attempting Choices Individual Novel Situation Written

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I was going to say 'my friend Stuart', but I suppose he's not a friend any more. I seem to have lost a number of friends in the last few years. I don't mean that I've fallen out with them, in any dramatic way. We've just decided not to stay in touch. And that's what it's been: a decision, a…

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“The upshot was that she lost her religion - with a vengeance - and walked out on him, taking these three daughters with her.…

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The plain fact is that she never really liked me, and never wanted me. I had been a mistake; and that, to some extent,…

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“Yes, she would have been partial to men, perhaps she might even have confined herself to one man in particular, if only she had…

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“You didn't take part, Benjamin?" Gunther asked, as he passed me a plate of cheese and cold meat. "My brother doesn't play games," said…

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As soon as you start writing about how human beings interact with each other socially, you're into politics, aren't you?

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I like the idea of a big caesura between the narratives, a space which readers can fill in with their own speculative history.

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They were written in the early '90s when I was strapped for cash.

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The more melancholy side of my literary personality is much in tune with BS Johnson's.

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I had no sense of any reputation that What a Carve Up! might acquire - at the time I didnt even have a publisher,…

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Ah, well, I have no talent for nonfiction, that's my problem.

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But at the same time, I have trouble keeping things out of books, which is why I don't write short stories because they turn…

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More Attempting quotes

Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.

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In terms of style, too, I think I've been working with a somewhat limited -- although intentionally limited -- set of tools. So I'm…

Kelly Link

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Lobbying' is the activity of attempting to influence legislation by privately influencing the legislators. It is the result and creation of a mixed economy-of…

Ayn Rand

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To attempt to be religious without practicing a specific religion is as possible as attempting to speak without a specific language.

George Santayana

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Ewan McGregor stars as Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, again doing a fine Alec Guinness impersonation but otherwise seeming lost and alone in the galaxy as the one actor attempting to give a real performance in this mess.

Stephanie Zacharek

Daphne," he said with controlled gentleness, "what is wrong?" She sat down opposite him and placed a hand on his cheek. "I'm so insensitive," she whispered. "I should have known. I should never have said anything." "Should have known what?" he ground out. Her hand fell away. "That you can't—that you couldn't—" "Can't what?" She looked down at her lap,…

Julia Quinn

I'm a dreamer and continue to dream of what can and will be, "Expecting great things from God, Attempting great things for God

William Carey

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I swear you’re a woman. (Devyn) I would respond to that, but I don’t want to distract you while you’re attempting to drive and…

Sherrilyn Kenyon

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To approach a city, or even a city neighborhood, as if it were a larger architectural problem, capable of being given order by converting…

Jane Jacobs

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I have told you of the Spaniard who always put on his spectacles when about to eat cherries, that they might look bigger and more attempting. In like manner I made the most of my enjoyment s: and through I do not cast my cares away, I pack them in as little compass as I can, and carry them as…

Robert Southey