Quotessence
Home / Authors / Ian Mcewan
Ian Mcewan

Ian Mcewan Quotes

Novelist

Filter quotes by topic

AllThinkingMomentsIfsPeopleWritingSelfWayLittlesNovelWorldKnowsMenMightMindSimpleStoriesAtonementBelieveChildrenLove

Famous Ian Mcewan Quotes

“In a nuclear age, and in an age of serious environmental degradation, apocalyptic belief creates a serious second order danger. The precarious logic of self-interest that saw us through the Cold War would collapse if the leaders of one nuclear state came to welcome, or ceased to fear mass death.”

IfsWarSelfStatesAgeOrderBeliefInterestLeaderSawsDangerSeriousColdMassLogicEnvironmentalNuclearWelcomeCollapseCold WarSelf InterestDegradationApocalypticPrecariousEnvironmental Degradation
Author:Ian Mcewan
Create image

“How can a novelist achieve atonement when, with her absolute power of deciding outcomes, she is also God? There is no one, no entity or higher form that she can appeal to, or be reconciled with, or that can forgive her. There is nothing outside her. In her imagination she has set the limits and the terms. No atonement for God, or novelists, even if they are atheists. It was always an impossible task, and that was precisely the point. The attempt was all.”

IfsFormTermImaginationImpossibleAchieveHigherLimitsTasksAbsolutesForgivingAtheistAppealsNovelistsOutcomesEntityAtonementAbsolute Power
Author:Ian Mcewan
Create image

“She bent her finger and then straightened it. The mystery was in the instant before it moved, the dividing moment between not moving and moving, when her intention took effect. It was like a wave breaking. If she could only find herself at the crest, she thought, she might find the secret of herself, that part of her that was really in charge. She brought her forefinger closer to her face and stared at it, urging it to move. It remained still because she was pretending... . And when she did crook it finally, the action seemed to start in the finger itself, not in some part of her mind.”

IfsMindStillsMomentsMightActionFacesMovingSecretMysteryEffectsMovedIntentionFingersWaveInstantPretendingBentDividingCrooksWaves Breaking
Author:Ian Mcewan
Create image

“When he thought of her, it rather amazed him, that he had let that girl with her violin go. Now, of course, he saw that her self-effacing proposal was quite irrelevant. All she had needed was the certainty of his love, and his reassurance that there was no hurry when a lifetime lay ahead of them. Love and patience- if only he had had them both at once- would surely have seen them both through.”

IfsSelfGirlCoursesSawsNeededLaysLifetimeCertaintyAmazedIrrelevantHis LoveProposalViolinThat GirlReassurancePatience And Love
Author:Ian Mcewan
Create image

“My needs were simple I didn't bother much with themes or felicitous phrases and skipped fine descriptions of weather, landscapes and interiors. I wanted characters I could believe in, and I wanted to be made curious about what was to happen to them. Generally, I preferred people to be falling in and out of love, but I didn't mind so much if they tried their hand at something else. It was vulgar to want it, but I liked someone to say 'Marry me' by the end.”

PeopleIfsWantNeedsMindBelieveMadeEndsCharacterHandsHappensWantedFallSimpleFineWeatherCuriousLandscapeBotherPhrasesThemeDescriptionInteriorsVulgarMarry MeSweet Tooth
Author:Ian Mcewan
Create image