78 Quotes by Scarlett Thomas

I think about stories and their logic and wonder if there can be any such thing as simply "there is a book.

If something wants to be a story, it will be.

But the ground shakes, as if something's trying to push up from below, and I think of other people's mothers shaking out their duvets or even God shaking out the fabric of space-time.

Some writers, notably Anton Chekov, argue that all characters must be admirable, because once we've looked at anyone deeply enough and understood their motivation we must identify with them rather than judge them.

I feel like crying. There's something so sad about broken concrete.

I hate the honesty of the moring; the time before your consiousness switches on the light and gets rid of all the nasty shadows.

The sky is grey, with a thin TV-static drizzle that hangs in the air like it's been freeze-framed.

One minute I was playing chess and doing maths all the time, the next I had been rerouted into more 'normal' girls' activities: reading, writing stories and worrying about my clothes.

It's only the beginning of January, but some daffodils and snowdrops have made it through the earth and stand wetly in little rows by the path. The bus stop is depressing; there's a line of people looking as cold and fragile as the line of flowers [...]