#th

Try and understand what part you have to play in the world in which you live. There's more to life than you know and it's all happening out there. Discover what part you can play and then go for it. ↗

— Ian Mckellen

#go #go for it #happening #know #life

I don't believe there's any inherent darkness at the center of religion at all. I think religion actually is a morally neutral force. ↗

— Ian Mcewan

#any #believe #center #darkness #force

I think of novels in architectural terms. You have to enter at the gate, and this gate must be constructed in such a way that the reader has immediate confidence in the strength of the building. ↗

— Ian Mcewan

#building #confidence #constructed #enter #gate

It's good to get your hands dirty a bit and to test how you see things at a given point. And it's very pleasing after writing something like 'Atonement' or 'On Chesil Beach,' which are historical, to get involved in some plausible re-enactment of the here and now. ↗

— Ian Mcewan

#atonement #beach #bit #dirty #get

My father's drinking was sometimes a problem. And a great deal went unspoken. He was not particularly acute or articulate about the emotions. But he was very affectionate towards me. ↗

— Ian Mcewan

#acute #affectionate #articulate #deal #drinking

My parents were keen for me to have the education they themselves never had. They weren't able to guide me towards particular books, but they encouraged me to read, which I did, randomly and compulsively. ↗

— Ian Mcewan

#acute #affectionate #articulate #deal #drinking

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

Oh, I've become immune to the Booker. I think we need something a little more like the Pulitzer prize, where there isn't this great race. ↗

— Ian Mcewan

#booker #great #i #i think #immune

There is sorrow in the world, but goodness too; and goodness that is not greenness, either, no more than sorrow is. ↗

— Herman Melville

#goodness #more #sorrow #than #too

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