Quote

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

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Zadie Smith
Age: 49
Born: 1975
Born: October 27
Essayist
Novelist
Writer
London
England
Zadie Adeline Smith
Sadness
Never
Satisfied
Hand
Comes
Whichever
Tell
Resign
Veil
Hands
Veils
Truth
Lifelong
Writing

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For ridding oneself of faith is like boiling seawater to retrieve the salt--something is gained but something is lost.
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Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.
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The secret to editing your work is simple: you need to become its reader instead of its writer.
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English, as a subject, never really got over its upstart nature. It tries to bulk itself up with hopeless jargon and specious complexity, tries to imitate subjects it can never be.
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I love to dance, and sing - in the shower, not in public. Im too old to go raving, but my fondest memories are of that kind of thing - dancing, with lots of people, outside if possible.
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For me, [deep structures] might be something very simply to do with the split in my family. That's why I'm always thinking about opposites. It's so childish, really, but that might be simply what it is.
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To a novelist, fluidity is the ultimate good omen suddenly difficult problems are simply solved, intractable structural knots loosen themselves, and you come upon the key without even recognizing that this is what you hold.
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World makers, social network makers, ask one question first: 'How can I do it?'
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Some people--Samad for example--will tell you not to trust people who overuse the phrase at the end of the day--football managers, estate agents, salesmen of all kinds--but Archie's never felt that way about it. Prudent use of said phrase never failed to convince him that his interlocutor was getting to the bottom of things, to the fundamental
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Surely there is something to be said for drawing a circle around our attention and remaining within that circle. But how large should this circle be?
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(Feedback) People become addicted to it. That’s why journalism is so popular, because you want to hear, every day, what people think of what you just wrote. I think a little patience on that front can be good, too.
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Don't confuse honours with achievement.
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The lady was old, the lady was ill. It didn't matter what the lady believed.
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I used to take that God's-eye view as a comfort when I was a child. I'd think, Well, we couldn't find the world meaningful at all if it weren't for death. Of course, that is the smuggest and most intolerable of all perspectives because I'm not suffering from the death or the pain.
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I have an ambition to write a great book, but that's really a competition with myself. I've noticed that a lot of young writers, people in all media, want to be famous but they don't really want to do anything. I can't think of anything less worth striving for than fame.
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I'm not sure if you're the person for me any more.
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The library was the place I went to find out what there was to know. It was absolutely essential.
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I have a natural tendency to feel well about the world, I suppose, one way or another. But then there is the problem of pain. There are things like [Abraham] Lincoln's beloved little boy dying.
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When I was young, I was very technical about these things. I didn't like to admit to any intimate relation with what I was writing.
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The object of the passion is just an accessory to the passion itself.
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