“I always like to be in the presence of people who are good at and love their jobs, Irrespective of their jobs.” PeopleJobsAnd Love Book:Another Great Day at Sea: Life Aboard the USS George H. W. Bush Source: Another Great Day at Sea: Life Aboard the USS George H. W. Bush
“In foreign countries, when people see what Donald Trump is saying on Twitter since the election and seeing what he's saying in these calls with foreign leaders, they take everything very seriously and they take everything very literally.” PeopleCountryLeaderElection Author:Geoff Dyer
“I've never been much drawn towards satire of any kind. I don't like that style whereby you kind of stitch people up. But the deeper thing is that I just find these people so impressive and admirable.” PeopleKindStyleSatireImpressiveAdmirable Author:Geoff Dyer
“I would hope that nothing that I write would ever seem earnest because I subscribe absolutely to Franz Nietzsche's claim when he says, "Ah, earnestness, the sure sign of a slow mind." Earnest people are always a bit on the thick side in my experience.” PeopleWritingMindEarnestEarnestness Author:Geoff Dyer
“I would agree on the aging thing. Because, at a certain point, once you start noticing it, it is your subject. And I know young that people, when they get to 30, say, "Oh, I'm so old." But actually, around 50, you do become conscious of it.” PeopleConsciousAgreeAgingNoticing Author:Geoff Dyer
“There's always something impressive when people are giving themselves to their job absolutely. The military thing - I was conscious that their routine, their way of living is so opposite to mine. In some ways their life seemed intolerable to me. But, mine would be to them, too, because this strangely laissez-faire life of mine actually comes with its obligations as well.” PeopleGivingMilitaryConsciousObligationImpressive Author:Geoff Dyer
“Whatever people may say about my books - and it always amazes me when people don't like them, but sometimes they don't - the epigraphs have always been top-drawer. I think having that at the outset protects me from a lot of potential problems.” PeopleThinkingBookSometimesProblemProtect Author:Geoff Dyer
“I really like the George Clooney of Solaris also filmed by Andrei Tarkovsky, before Steven Soderbergh: that's very obviously sci-fi, and it seems to me a great film. But whatever pigeon-hole you put Stalker into you would both be increasing the risk of disappointing people and diminishing the film.” PeopleFilmRiskDisappointingGreat Film Author:Geoff Dyer
“The perfect life, the perfect lie, I realised after Christmas, is one which prevents you from doing that which you would ideally have done (painted, say, or written unpublishable poetry) but which, in fact, you have no wish to do. People need to feel that they have been thwarted by circumstances from pursuing the life which, had they led it, they would not have wanted; whereas the life they really want is precisely a compound of all those thwarting circumstances.” PeopleWantNeedsFeelsHas BeensDoneFactsWantedLyingWishPerfectWrittenCircumstancesRealisedCompoundsPerfect Life Book:Out of Sheer Rage: In the Shadow of D. H. Lawrence Source: Out of Sheer Rage: In the Shadow of D. H. Lawrence
“People say it's not what happens in your life that matters, it's what you think happened. But this qualification, obviously, did not go far enough. It was quite possible that the central event of your life could be something that didn't happen, or something you thought didn't happen. Otherwise there'd be no need for fiction, there'd only be memoirs and histories.” PeopleThinkingNeedsMatterEnoughHappensFictionHappenedEventsMemoirQualifications Book:Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi: A Novel Source: Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi: A Novel
