1
Teachers're always using that "in your own words." I hate that. Authors knit their sentences tight. It's their job. Why make us unpick them, just to put it back together more shonkily? How're you s'posed to say Kapellmeister if you can't say Kapellmeister?David Mitchell
2
If you show someone something you've written, you give them a sharpened stake, lie down in your coffin, and say, ‘When you’re ready’.David Mitchell
3
There no such thing as something! Why? Because everything's already turning into something else!David Mitchell
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Trees're always a relief, after people.David Mitchell
5
Disco's are tricky. You look a total wally if you dance too early but after one crucial song tips the disco over, you look a sad saddo if you don't.David Mitchell
6
But you have read Madame Bovary?' (I'd never heard of her books.) 'No.David Mitchell
7
The art teacher's scarlet book was called Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille. 'As the title suggests, ' Mr Dunwoody saw the book'd caught my attention, 'it's about the history of opticians. What are you about?David Mitchell
8
Words are what you fight with but what you fight about is whether or not you’re afraid of them.David Mitchell
9
...it’s not just the person who fills a house, it’s their I’ll be back later! s, their toothbrushes and unused hats and coats, their belongingnesses.David Mitchell
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Photos’re better than nothing, but things’re better than photos ’cause the things themselves were part of what was there.David Mitchell
11
Perfume counters in department stores, Holly Deblin smells of, the middle of July, and cinnamon Tic Tacs.David Mitchell
12
Poems are lenses, mirrors, and X-ray machines.David Mitchell
13
Secrets affect you more than you’d think. You lie to keep them hidden. You steer talk away from them. You worry someone’ll discover yours and tell the world. You think you are in charge of the secret, but isn’t it the secret who’s actually using you?David Mitchell
14
Fire’s the sun, unwindin’ itself out o’ the wood.David Mitchell
15
Will I be some kid’s dad one day? Are any future people lurking deep inside mine?... Which girl’s carrying the other half of my kid, deep in those intricate loops? What’s she doing right now? What’s her name?David Mitchell
16
I’d always worried but kissing’s not so tricky. Your lips know what to do, just like sea anenomes know what to do. Kissing spins you, like Flying Tea-Cups. Oxygen the girl breathes out, you breathe in.David Mitchell