112 Quotes by Graham Swift

And what if orphans really were called orchids? And if the sky was called the ground. And if a tree was called a daffodil. Would it make any difference to the actual nature of things? Or their mystery?

How quick and rushing life can sometimes seem, when at the same time it’s so slow and sweet and everlasting.

People read books, didn’t they, to get away from themselves, to escape the troubles of their lives?

Of course there are times when I hate London, but equally there are times when I can walk ’round a corner and I really feel that this is my place.

If you can’t stand your own company alone in a room for long hours, or, when it gets tough, the feeling of being in a locked cell, or, when it gets tougher still, the vague feeling of being buried alive-then don’t be a writer.

What is a history teacher? He’s someone who teaches mistakes.

All nature’s creatures join to express nature’s purpose. Somewhere in their mounting and mating, rutting and butting is the very secret of nature itself.

I am struck by the way people behave on the Tube. They look at each other beadily and inquisitively, and something goes on in their thoughts which must be equivalent to the way dogs and other animals, when they meet, sniff each other’s arses and nuzzle each other’s fur.

I do my thinking while I walk. It just loosens up the mind in the way that you don’t get when you are sitting at a desk.