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Metroland QUOTES

Metroland QUOTES

1 " Cut privet still smells of sour apples, as it did when I was sixteen; but this is a rare, lingering exception. At that age, everything seemed more open to analogy, to metaphor, than it does now. There were more meanings, more interpretations, a greater variety of available truths. There was more symbolism, Things contained more. "

― Julian Barnes , Metroland

2 " Why does anything left-wing have to be trendy before it’s read, and by the time it’s trendy it’s already a force for conservatism? "

― Julian Barnes , Metroland

3 " At times, I suspect that the concept of maturity is maintained by a conspiracy of niceness. "

― Julian Barnes , Metroland

4 " Until I met Annick I’d always been certain that the edgy cynicism and disbelief in which I dealt, plus a cowed trust in the word of any imaginative writer, were the only tools for the painful, wrenching extraction of truths from the surrounding quartz of hypocrisy and deceit. The pursuit of truth had always seemed something combative. Now, not exactly in a flash, but over a few weeks, I wondered if it weren’t something both higher – above the supposed conflict – and simpler, attainable not through striving but a simple inward glance. "

― Julian Barnes , Metroland

5 " The heap of dirty dishes was normal for Arthur, who had applied for a reduction in his water rate on the grounds that he washed up only every fortnight, and then used the leftover liquid for watering his roses. "

― Julian Barnes , Metroland

6 " ...poetry’s packaged as a late-night slot, a quote minority taste unquote, like water-skiing or goat-fucking or something. "

― Julian Barnes , Metroland

7 " The orthodoxy runs, that if a marriage is founded on less than perfect truth it will always come to light. I don’t believe that. Marriage moves you further away from the examination of truth, not nearer to it. "

― Julian Barnes , Metroland

8 " Бесполезное это занятие - придавать вещам смысл и значение, которых в них нет. "

― Julian Barnes , Metroland

9 " Happiness depends necessarily on the unreality of one plane of your life: in one area ( emotional, financial, professional ), you should be living beyond your resources. "

― Julian Barnes , Metroland