104 Quotes by Edward St Aubyn

The thing about the 'Melrose' novels is that I have to feel they're impossible when I set out.

I see the author as the person who has written; the writer, the one involved in the process of writing. And they're not necessarily friends. The writer is the one I want to reinforce; the author would just feed on the reviews - so I'm in favour of starving him.

I'm really not responsible for what mental operation people have when they're reading my books other than the ones which are created by literary effects.

You can only give things up once they start to let you down.

Everything was usual. That was depression: being stuck, clinging to an out-of-date version of oneself.

It seems people spend the majority of their lives believing they're dying, with the only consolation being that at one point they get to be right.

People never remeber happiness with the care that they lavish on preserving every detail of their suffering.

Looking after children can be a subtle way of giving up... They become the whole ones, the well ones, the postponement of happiness, the ones who won't drink too much, give up, get divorced, become mentally ill. The part of oneself that's fighting against decay and depression is transferred to guarding them from decay and depression. In the meantime one decays and gets depressed.

Surely: the adverb of a man without an argument.