Tag Archives: Julian Barnes

What is taken away is greater than the sum of what was there. This may not be mathematically possible; but it is emotionally possible. Julian Barnes

All bad things are exaggerated in the middle of the night. When you lie awake, you only think of bad things. Julian Barnes

I hate the way the English have of not being serious about being serious, I really hate it. Julian Barnes

I am death-fearing. I don't think I'm morbid. That seems to me a fear of death that goes beyond the rational. Whereas it seems to me to be entirely rational to fear death! Julian Barnes

To look at ourselves from afar, to make the subjective suddenly objective: this gives us a psychic shock. Julian Barnes

I'm a complete democrat in terms of who buys my books. Julian Barnes

Grief seems at first to destroy not just all patterns, but also to destroy a belief that a pattern exists. Julian Barnes

Paris is certainly one of the most boastful of cities, and you could argue that it has had a lot to boast about: at various times the European centre of power, of civilisation, of the arts, and (self-advertisingly, at least) of love. Julian Barnes

Books say: she did this because. Life says: she did this. Books are where things are explained to you, life where things aren't. Julian Barnes

Most of us remember adolescence as a kind of double negative: no longer allowed to be children, we are not yet capable of being adults. Julian Barnes