Quotes From "The Bone Clocks" By David Mitchell

I put my hand on the altar rail. 'What if. . what if Heaven is real, but only in moments? Like a glass of water on a hot day when you're dying of thirst, or when someone's nice to you for no reason, or. .' Mam's pancakes with Toblerone sauce; Dad dashing up from the bar just to tell me, 'Sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite'; or Jacko and Sharon singing 'For She's A Squishy Marshmallow' instead of 'For She's A Jolly Good Fellow' every single birthday and wetting themselves even though it's not at all funny; and Brendan giving his old record player to me instead of one of his mates. 'S'pose Heaven's not like a painting that's just hanging there for ever, but more like. . Like the best song anyone ever wrote, but a song you only catch in snatches, while you're alive, from passing cars, or. . upstairs windows when you're lost. . David Mitchell

.....it's hard to describe a psychosoteric battle at close quarters..... Think of those tennis-ball firing machines, but loaded with hand-grenades trapped in a shipping container, on a ship caught in a force-ten gale. David Mitchell

Nothing attunes you to the beauty of the quotidian like a man who decides not to kill you after all David Mitchell

..Power is lost or won, never created or destroyed. Power is a visitor to, not a possession of, those it empowers. The mad tend to crave it, many of the sane crave it, but the wise worry about its long-term effects. Power is crack cocaine for your ego and battery acid for your soul. Power’s comings and goings, from host to host, via war, marriage, ballet box, diktat, and accident of birth, are the plot of history. The empowered may serve justice, remodel the Earth, transform lush nations into smoking battlefields, and bring down skyscrapers, but power itself is amoral.” Immaculée Constantin now looks up at me. “Power will notice you. Power is watching you now. Carry on as you are, and power will favor you. But power will also laugh at you, mercilessly, as you lie dying in a private clinic, a few fleeting decades from now. Power mocks all its illustrious favorites as they lie dying… . David Mitchell

A book can’t be a half-fantasy any more than a woman can be half pregnant David Mitchell

Power is lost or won, never created or destroyed. Power is a visitor to, not a possession of, those it empowers. The mad tend to crave it, many of the sane crave it, but the wise worry about its long-term side effects. David Mitchell

The empowered may serve justice, remodel the Earth, transform lush nations into smoking battlefields, and bring down skyscrapers, but power itself is amoral. David Mitchell

Speak to me about power. What is it?” I do believe I’m being out- Cambridged. “You want me to discuss power? Right here and now?” Her shapely head tilts. “No time except the present.” “ Okay.” Only for a ten. “Power is the ability to make someone do what they otherwise wouldn’t, or deter them from doing what they otherwise would.” Immaculée Constantin is unreadable. “How?” “By coercion and reward. Carrots and sticks, though in bad light one looks much like the other. Coercion is predicated upon the fear of violence or suffering. ‘Obey, or you’ll regret it.’ Tenth-century Danes exacted tribute by it; the cohesion of the Warsaw Pact rested upon it; and playground bullies rule by it. Law and order relies upon it. That’s why we bang up criminals and why even democracies seek to monopolize force.” Immaculée Constantin watches my face as I talk; it’s thrilling and distracting. “Reward works by promising ‘Obey and benefit.’ This dynamic is at work in, let’s say, the positioning of NATO bases in nonmember states, dog training, and putting up with a shitty job for your working life. How am I doing?” Security Goblin’s sneeze booms through the chapel. “ You scratch the surface, ” says Immaculée Constantin. I feel lust and annoyance. “Scratch deeper, then.” She brushes a tuft of fluff off her glove and appears to address her hand: “Power is lost or won, never created or destroyed. Power is a visitor to, not a possession of, those it empowers. The mad tend to crave it, many of the sane crave it, but the wise worry about its long-term side effects. Power is crack cocaine for your ego and battery acid for your soul. Power’s comings and goings, from host to host, via war, marriage, ballot box, diktat, and accident of birth, are the plot of history. The empowered may serve justice, remodel the Earth, transform lush nations into smoking battlefields, and bring down skyscrapers, but power itself is amoral.” Immaculée Constantin now looks up at me. “Power will notice you. Power is watching you now. Carry on as you are, and power will favor you. But power will also laugh at you, mercilessly, as you lie dying in a private clinic, a few fleeting decades from now. Power mocks all its illustrious favorites as they lie dying. ‘Imperious Caesar, dead and turn’d to clay, might stop a hole to keep the wind away.’ That thought sickens me, Hugo Lamb, like nothing else. Doesn’t it sicken you? . David Mitchell

Power and money Like Pooh Bear and honey Stick fast. David Mitchell

Not a clue — and, no, I don’t touch drugs. The world’s unstable enough without scrambling your brain for kicks. David Mitchell

Nonfiction that smells like fiction is neither. David Mitchell

Books’ll be back, ” Esther-in-Unalaq predicts. “Wait till the power grids start failing in the 2030s and the datavats get erased. It’s not far away. The future looks a lot like the past. David Mitchell

The Future, ” says Ian, in a film-trailer voice. “Coming soon, to a Present near you. David Mitchell

Prayer may be a placebo for the disease of helplessness, but placebos can make you feel better. David Mitchell

I'd love to know how Dad saw me when I was 6. I'd love to know a hundred things. When a parent dies, a filing cabinet full of all the fascinating stuff also ceases to exist. I never imagined how hungry I'd be one day to look inside it. David Mitchell

Here’s the truth: Who is spared love is spared grief. David Mitchell

And grade every simile and metaphor from one star to five, and remove any threes or below. It hurts when you operate, but afterwards you feel much better. David Mitchell

Only one-tenth of what you write will make it into your manuscript, but when you knock on that tenth” — I rap my knuckles on the table — “you’ll hear oaken solidity, not sawdust and glue. David Mitchell

Life’s more science-fictiony by the day. David Mitchell

Human cruelty can be infinite. Human generosity can be boundless. David Mitchell

You only value something if you know it’ll end. David Mitchell

When a woman is interested in you, she’ll let you know; if not, there’s no aftershave, gift, or line you can spin to make her change her mind. David Mitchell

Only I don't close my eyes these days, because it hurts too much when I open them. David Mitchell

Rootlessness, " I opine, "is the twenty-first century norm."" You're not wrong and that's why we're in the shit we're in, mate. If you belong nowhere, why give a tinker's toss about anywhere? David Mitchell

A writer flirts with schizophrenia, nurtures synesthesia, and embraces obsessive-compulsive disorder. Your art feeds on you, your soul, and, yes, to a degree, your sanity. Writing novels worth reading will bugger up your mind, jeopardize your relationships, and distend your life. You have been warned. David Mitchell

Holly rubs her temples. “Are we talking ... vampires?” Arkady groans. “On, the V-word! Here it comes again. David Mitchell

Such narrative arcs make good movies but shitty existences. David Mitchell

This isn’t lust. Lust wants, does the obvious, and pads back into the forest. Love is greedier. Love wants round-the-clock care; protection; rings, vows, joint accounts; scented candles on birthdays; life insurance. Babies. Love’s a dictator. David Mitchell

...if you bare your arse to a vengeful unicorn, the number of possible outcomes dwindles to one. David Mitchell

On bad days you wonder, ‘Why not just back off from the war and lead a quiet metalife? David Mitchell

Hobbies are for pleasure, but rituals keep you going. David Mitchell

Think larger. Redraw what is possible. David Mitchell

At certain rare moments, a library is a kind of mind. David Mitchell