British - Novelist | October 25, 1975 -
Young people understand the world. They should be listened to on matters of politics and world organization. But they know nothing of their own lives.
Zadie Smith
PoliticsPeopleOrganizationWorld
The library was the place I went to find out what there was to know. It was absolutely essential.
LibraryFindPlaceKnowOut
You know, you don't expect everyone to be as educated as everyone else or have the same achievements, but you expect at least to be offered at least some of the opportunities, and libraries are the most simple and the most open way to give people access to books.
SimplePeopleOpportunitiesYouKnow
Normally, young writers have all the time in the world and they don't always use it well.
TimeWorldYoungAlwaysWellUse
People with children will know this: when the childcare is over, it's over on the dot. You immediately have to go into child mode; there's no down time.
ChildrenTimeChildPeopleYouDown
My feeling is, having lived in different classes, that people want equality of opportunity... that's the thing that makes me despair: the idea that people aren't given equality of opportunity.
OpportunityEqualityPeopleMeWant
Don't romanticise your 'vocation.' You can either write good sentences or you can't. There is no 'writer's lifestyle.' All that matters is what you leave on the page.
GoodYouPageLifestyleMatters
Don't confuse honours with achievement.
AchievementConfuseHonours
It's difficult to tell the truth about how a book begins. The truth, as far as it can be presented to other people, is either wholly banal or too intimate.
TruthPeopleBookDifficultTell
One thing you can't intend is how you will be read. I hear it said a lot that my books are about the 'search for identity', and this is said admiringly, as if I meant to encourage such a search.
IdentitySearchYouSaidWillBooks
Writing is my way of expressing - and thereby eliminating - all the various ways we can be wrong-headed.
WritingWayExpressingWaysThereby
Cambridge was a joy. Tediously. People reading books in a posh place. It was my fantasy. I loved it. I miss it still.
JoyPeopleReadingLovedPlaceMiss
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