#eli

I don't really believe in evil at all. ↗

— Ian Mcewan

#evil #i #really

Novelists have to be adept at controlling the flow of information, and, most crucially, they have to be in charge of the narrative. ↗

— Ian Mcewan

#charge #controlling #crucially #flow #information

Now, I'm an atheist. I really don't believe for a moment that our moral sense comes from a god. ↗

— Ian Mcewan

#believe #comes #god #i #moment

Before acting, I wanted to become a journalist. I also toyed with the idea of being a chef - but that's only when people asked me what I wanted to be. In fact, I always used to say I wanted to be an actor, but I didn't ever believe that I was good enough to be come one. ↗

— Ian Mckellen

#actor #also #always #asked #become

One important theme is the extent to which one can ever correct an error, especially outside any frame of religious forgiveness. All of us have done something we regret - how we manage to remove that from our conscience, or whether that's even possible, interested me. ↗

— Ian Mcewan

#conscience #correct #done #error #especially

What is it precisely, that feeling of 'returning' from a poem? Something is lighter, softer, larger - then it fades, but never completely. ↗

— Ian Mcewan

#fades #feeling #larger #lighter #never

You could say that all novels are spy novels and all novelists are spy masters. ↗

— Ian Mcewan

#masters #novelists #novels #say #spy

If a person is homosexual by nature - that is, if one's sexuality is as intrinsic a part of one's identity as gender or skin color - then society can no more deny a gay person access to the secular rights and religious sacraments because of his homosexuality than it can reinstate Jim Crow. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#because #color #crow #deny #gay

Cynically but accurately put, Americans oppose public intervention or regulation if it helps others, but favor it if it helps them - take social security, disaster relief, public works projects, for example. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#cynically #disaster #example #favor #for example

As crucial as religion has been and is to the life of the nation, America's unifying force has never been a specific faith, but a commitment to freedom - not least freedom of conscience. ↗

— Jon Meacham

#been #commitment #conscience #crucial #faith