“ Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories. ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
- 2.1K
“ Cos if it's encyclopedias we've got enough, like, information... and if it's God, you've got the wrong house. ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
- 3.6K
“ In the end, your past is not my past and your truth is not my truth and your solution is not my solution. ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
- 2.4K
“ Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand – but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied. ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
- 633
“ It's still easier to find the correct Hoover bag than to find one pure person, one pure faith, on the globe. ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
- 401
“ Generally she kept her head down, but on the occasions she raised it she was treated to the most intimate of panoramic views: the scattered possessions of the three people she had created. Several small items made her cry: a tiny woollen bootie, a broken orthodontic retainer, a woggle from a cubscout tie. She had not become Malcolm X's private secretary. She never did direct a movie or run for the Senate. She could not fly a plane. But here was all this. ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
- 279
“ Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand – but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied. ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
“ When I write I am trying to express my way of being in the world. This is primarily a process of elimination: once you have removed all the dead language, the secondhand dogma, the truths that are not your own but other people's, the mottos, the slogans, the outandout lies of your nation, the myths of your historical moment once you have removed all that warps experience into a shape you do not recognise and do not believe in what you are left with is something approximating the truth of your own conception. ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
“ USURY: Everybody's looking for the job in which you never have to pay anyone their pound of flesh. Selfemployed nirvana. A lot of artists like to think of themselves as uncompromising; a lot of management consultants won't tell you what they do until they've sunk five pints. I don't think anybody should give themselves air just because they don't have to hand over a pound of flesh every day at 5pm, and I don't think anyone should beat themselves with broken glass because they do. If you're an artist, well, good for you. Thank your lucky stars every evening and dance in the garden with the fairies. But don't fool yourself that you occupy some kind of higher moral ground. You have to work for that. Writing a few lines, painting a pretty picture that just won't do it. ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
“ Q: Where and when do you do your writing? A: Any small room with no natural light will do. As for when, I have no particular schedules... afternoons are best, but I'm too lethargic for any real regime. When I'm in the flow of something I can do a regular 9 to 5; when I don't know where I'm going with an idea, I'm lucky if I do two hours of productive work. There is nothing more offputting to a wouldbe novelist to hear about how soandso wakes up at four in the a.m, walks the dog, drinks three liters of black coffee and then writes 3,000 words a day, or that some other asshole only works half an hour every two weeks, does fifty pressups and stands on his head before and after the "creative moment." I remember reading that kind of stuff in profiles like this and becoming convinced everything I was doing was wrong. What's the American phrase? If it ain't broke... ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
“ We are split people. For myself, half of me wishes to sit quietly with legs crossed, letting the things that are beyond my control wash over me. But the other half wants to fight a holy war. Jihad! And certainly we could argue this out in the street, but I think, in the end, your past is not my past and your truth is not my truth and your solutionit is not my solution. So I do not know what it is you would like me to say. Truth and firmness is one suggestion, though there are many people you can ask if that answer does not satisfy. Personally, my hope lies in the last days. The prophet Muhammadpeace be upon Him!tells us that on the Day of Resurrection everyone will be struck unconscious. Deaf and dumb. No chitchat. Tongueless. And what a bloody relief that will be. ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
- 2.2K
“ When the male organ of a man stands erect, two thirds of his intelect go away. And one third of his religion. ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
- 66
“ You must live life with the full knowledge that your actions will remain. We are creatures of consequence. ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
- 3.2K
“ She measured time in pages. Half an hour, to her, meant ten pages read, or fourteen, depending on the size of the type, and when you think of time in this way there isn’t time for anything else. ”
- Zadie Smith- Copy
- 4K
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