What does the novel do? It tells beautiful, shapely lies which enclose hard, exact truths.

Julian Barnes
Some Similar Quotes
  1. A novel is never anything but a philosophy expressed in images. And in a good novel the philosophy has disappeared into the images. - Albert Camus

  2. Semua orang pernah patah hati. All you have to do is move on. - Nina Ardianti

  3. If you only write when you’re inspired you may be a fairly decent poet, but you’ll never be a novelist because you’re going to have to make your word count today and those words aren’t going to wait for you whether you’re inspired or not.... - Neil Gaiman

  4. A short story is a love affair, a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film. - Lorrie Moore

  5. In writing a novel, when in doubt, have two guys come through the door with guns. - Raymond Chandler

More Quotes By Julian Barnes
  1. How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts? And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account, to remind us that our life is not our life, merely the...

  2. Books say: She did this because. Life says: She did this. Books are where things are explained to you; life is where things aren't. I'm not surprised some people prefer books. Books make sense of life. The only problem is that the lives they make...

  3. Later on in life, you expect a bit of rest, don't you? You think you deserve it. I did, anyway. But then you begin to understand that the reward of merit is not life's business.

  4. Though why should we expect age to mellow us? If it isn't life's business to reward merit, why should it be life's business to give us warm, comfortable feelings towards its end? What possible evolutionary purpose could nostalgia serve?

  5. It's the best way of telling the truth; it's a process of producing grand, beautiful, well-ordered lies that tell more truth than any assemblage of facts. Beyond that … [it's] delight in, and play with, language; also, a curiously intimate way of communicating with people...

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