The Guardian Quotes

The world is a better place when you smile.

~ Nicholas Sparks

Daddy loved his son. Daddy believed his son walked on water. Daddy, Mike had long ago decided, was an idiot.

~ Nicholas Sparks

I think I’ll feel out of place wherever I go on earth, forever. But that’s fine. I have to make my peace with that.

~ Laura Marling

I tend to be drawn to people who are similar. Very independent. And the ones who aren't, it doesn't work. It doesn't last. I’m drawn to quiet people – certainly I am now.

~ Laura Marling

I can’t do small talk really, and that’s fine. I've got old friends and family that love me, thank God. I’m grateful for what a city gives you access to, but I do feel that I’m only here until I figure out how to get out again.

~ Laura Marling

Economics ought to be a magpie discipline, taking in philosophy, history and politics. But heterodox approaches have long since been banished from most faculties, claims Tony Lawson. In the 1970s, when he started teaching at Cambridge, the economics faculty still boasted legends such as Nicky Kaldor and Joan Robinson. There were big debates, and students would study politics, the history of economic thought. And now? Nothing. No debates, no politics or history of economic thought and the courses are nearly all maths.How do elites remain in charge? If the tale of the economists is any guide, by clearing out the opposition and then blocking their ears to reality. The result is the one we're all paying for.

~ Aditya Chakrabortty

If someone wanted to be a runner, you don't tell them to think about running, you tell them to run. And the same simple idea applies to writing, I hope.

~ Markus Zusak

The future of fiction? he said. Maybe, she said. Will it have room for, you know, love & stuff? he said. Always, she said. OK then, he said.

~ Patrick Ness