Lionel Shriver Quotes

Quotes about:

• A lot of people get so hung up on what they can't have that they don't think for a second about whether they really want it.

  Lionel Shriver

  Jealousy, Thinking, People

  49 Copy quote

• In a country that doesn't discriminate between fame and infamy, the latter presents itself as plainly more achievable.

  Lionel Shriver

  Country, Fame, Latter

  Lionel Shriver (2011). “We Need to Talk about Kevin”, p.168, Counterpoint Press

  20 Copy quote

• Now that children don't till your fields or take you in when you're incontinent, there is no sensible reason to have them, and it's amazing that with the advent of effective contraception anyone chooses to reproduce at all.

  Lionel Shriver

  Children, Fields, Advent

  Lionel Shriver (2011). “We Need to Talk about Kevin”, p.26, Counterpoint Press

  13 Copy quote

• Though surely to avoid attachments for fear of loss is to avoid life.

  Lionel Shriver

  Loss, Attachment

  Lionel Shriver (2010). “We Need to Talk about Kevin”, p.331, Profile Books

  4 Copy quote

• Lovers communicate not inside sentences, but between them. Passion lurks within interstice. It is grouting rather than bricks.

  Lionel Shriver

  Passion, Bricks, Lovers

  Lionel Shriver (2007). “The Post-Birthday World”, Harper

  5 Copy quote

• Life is never easy so that is why I never lie about my age. I want credit for every damned year.

  Lionel Shriver

  Lying, Inspiration, Years

  8 Copy quote

• In fact, it's become politically important to offend people, because we have to fight back against this notion that being offensive should be against the law or something, and that everyone supposedly deserves "respect" for their often dopy views.

  Lionel Shriver

  Fighting, People, Important

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  5 Copy quote

• Funny how you dig yourself into a hole by the teaspoon.

  Lionel Shriver

  Holes, Teaspoons

  Lionel Shriver (2011). “We Need to Talk about Kevin”, p.53, Counterpoint Press

  14 Copy quote

• It's far less important to me to be liked these days than to be understood.

  Lionel Shriver

  Important, These Days, Understood

  Lionel Shriver (2011). “We Need to Talk about Kevin”, p.4, Counterpoint Press

  13 Copy quote

• ...You can only subject people to anguish who have a conscience. You can only punish people who have hopes to frustrate or attachments to sever; who worry what you think of them. You can really only punish people who are already a little bit good.

  Lionel Shriver

  Life, Thinking, Attachment

  Lionel Shriver (2010). “We Need To Talk About Kevin”, p.167, Profile Books

  10 Copy quote

• But what's so great about being a perfectionist?... You do all this work, and then the stuff you've made just pisses you off.

  Lionel Shriver

  Stuff, Perfectionist, Made

  13 Copy quote

• We need to recognise that slowing population growth is one of the most cost-effective and reliable ways of easing pressure on our environment and securing a sustainable future for us all

  Lionel Shriver

  Growth, Population, Needs

  8 Copy quote

• We are not attracted to people because they are virtuous. In fact, there's something a little creepy about people who are too good. There is a big draw to people who are successful at breaking the rules. That means we end up admiring a lot of people that we think we shouldn't.

  Lionel Shriver

  Mean, Successful, Thinking

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  5 Copy quote

• Desire is one of the burning experiences of human life.

  Lionel Shriver

  Desire, Burning, Human Life

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

  4 Copy quote

• I realize it's commonplace for parents to say to their child sternly, 'I love you, but I don't always like you.' But what kind of love is that? It seems to me that comes down to, 'I'm not oblivious to you - that is, you can still hurt my feelings - but I can't stand having you around.' Who wants to be loved like that? Given a choice, I might skip the deep blood tie and settle for being liked. I wonder if wouldn't have been more moved if my own mother had taken me in her arms and said, 'I like you.' I wonder if just enjoying your kid's company isn't more important.

  Lionel Shriver

  Mother, I Like You, Hurt

  Lionel Shriver (2011). “We Need to Talk about Kevin”, p.143, Counterpoint Press

  5 Copy quote

• Holocausts do not amaze me. Rapes and child slavery do not amaze me. And Franklin, I know you feel otherwise, but Kevin does not amaze me. I am amazed when I drop a glove in the street and a teenager runs two blocks to return it. I am amazed when a checkout girl flashes me a wide smile with my change, though my own face had been a mask of expedience. Lost wallets posted to their owners, strangers who furnish meticulous directions, neighbors who water each other's houseplants - these things amaze me.

  Lionel Shriver

  Girl, Running, Children

  Lionel Shriver (2010). “We Need to Talk about Kevin”, p.250, Profile Books

  6 Copy quote

• In the big picture I write for an audience of people I've never met. By the final draft I'm looking for anything in the prose that's prospectively boring to strangers.

  Lionel Shriver

  Writing, People, Finals

  "So Much For That". Interview with Bret Anthony Johnston, www.nationalbook.org. 2010.

  4 Copy quote

• Only a country that feels invulnerable can afford political turmoil as entertainment.

  Lionel Shriver

  Country, Political, Entertainment

  Lionel Shriver (2011). “We Need to Talk about Kevin”, p.25, Counterpoint Press

  6 Copy quote

• Got nothing to do with trying. You like someone, or you don't. If you're 'trying', you don't.

  Lionel Shriver

  Trying, Ifs

  Lionel Shriver (2013). “Big Brother”, p.11, HarperCollins UK

  8 Copy quote

• So many stories are determined before they start.

  Lionel Shriver

  Stories, Determined

  Lionel Shriver (2011). “We Need to Talk about Kevin”, p.12, Counterpoint Press

  7 Copy quote

• Reading time is precious. Don't waste it. Reading bad books, or books that are wrong for a certain time in your life, can dangerously turn you off the activity altogether.

  Lionel Shriver

  Book, Reading, Waste

  "How not to read" by Lionel Shriver, www.theguardian.com. February 8, 2014.

  9 Copy quote

• The Web, the great time-killer that had replaced conspicuously passive television with its seductive illusion of productivity.

  Lionel Shriver

  Seductive, Television, Killers

  7 Copy quote

• it is always difficult to impress the ignorant.

  Lionel Shriver

  Ignorance, Ignorant, Difficult

  Lionel Shriver (2007). “A Perfectly Good Family: A Novel”, Harper Perennial

  5 Copy quote

• Teachers were both blamed for everything that went wrong with kids and turned to for their every salvation. This dual role of scapegoat and savior was downright messianic but even Jesus was probably paid better.

  Lionel Shriver

  Teacher, Jesus, Kids

  Lionel Shriver (2011). “We Need to Talk about Kevin”, p.332, Counterpoint Press

  6 Copy quote

• It isn't very nice to admit, but domestic violence has its uses. So raw and unleashed, it tears away the veil of civilization that comes between us as much as it makes life possible. A poor substitute for the sort of passion we like to extol perhaps, but real love shares more in common with hatred and rage than it does with geniality or politeness.

  Lionel Shriver

  Real, Nice, Passion

  Lionel Shriver (2011). “We Need to Talk about Kevin”, p.196, Counterpoint Press

  8 Copy quote

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