Christian Nathler

“And now, in the North of England, just as in Kansas or Illinois, people vote against their own interests, because they detest a culture that sees them as needy, they hate the caring elites who like to tell them what is good for them. In the modern world, William told himself, people don’t mind being exploited so long as they can choose it

No one wants to be told what they already know. What is needed is not just a novel that addresses not just contemporary conditions but the effect those conditions have on our own self-image, the ways in which we justify our own actions while all the while a great, unstoppable force carries us forward. It takes a brave, resourceful writer to do

Whenever people jeer at the subject of a novel, there's an impish part of me that goes, Ah, very interesting, I understand your complaint. But what if it was good?

 "Men who are not free... always idealize their bondage."

- Boris Pasternak

We live a world where we applaud the price but not the Picasso.

• Fran Lebowitz

“An artist has got to be careful never really to arrive at a place where he thinks he’s AT somewhere. You always have to realize that you’re constantly in a state of becoming. And, as long as you can stay in that realm you’ll sort of be alright.”

— Bob Dylan

All plants are edible. Some plants are only edible once.