[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fjKY7vOdbK69Hs_rRXVauurYUj_MpF2EqhLP1HDhDPC4":3,"$fBQpC6w16Sp5f4oXNudE6DkKFo-bqF59TC80lgsjaxyA":43},{"author":4,"tags":11},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":9,"bio_jsonld":9,"slug":10,"image_url":9},2821,"Ian McEwan","I",527,null,"ian-mcewan",[12,16,20,24,28,32,36,40],{"tag_id":13,"tag_name":14,"tag_count":15},56,"thinking",14,{"tag_id":17,"tag_name":18,"tag_count":19},25,"love",12,{"tag_id":21,"tag_name":22,"tag_count":23},60,"writing",10,{"tag_id":25,"tag_name":26,"tag_count":27},24,"life",9,{"tag_id":29,"tag_name":30,"tag_count":31},9979,"roman",7,{"tag_id":33,"tag_name":34,"tag_count":35},382,"children",6,{"tag_id":37,"tag_name":38,"tag_count":39},326,"men",5,{"tag_id":41,"tag_name":42,"tag_count":39},8998,"atonement",{"quotes":44,"pagination":107},[45,52,58,65,71,77,83,89,95,101],{"id":46,"quote_text":47,"author_id":5,"source_id":35,"has_image":48,"author":49,"source":50,"quote_tag":51,"commentary":9},3085076,"From where I am, you and my mother and the world are all one. Hyperbole, I know. The world is also full of wonders, which is why I’m foolishly in love with it. And I love and admire you both. What I’m saying is, I’m fearful of rejection.",false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":53,"quote_text":54,"author_id":5,"source_id":35,"has_image":48,"author":55,"source":56,"quote_tag":57,"commentary":9},3085074,"A contempt for things, for order, cleanliness, must lie on a spectrum with scorn for laws, values, for life itself. What is a criminal but a disordered spirit?",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":59,"quote_text":60,"author_id":5,"source_id":35,"has_image":48,"author":61,"source":62,"quote_tag":63,"commentary":64},3085073,"Without a specific destination, the visitors chose routes as they might choose a colour, and even the precise manner in which they became lost expressed their cumulative choices, their will.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],"**The Backstory**\n\nThis quote is likely from Ian McEwan's novel \"Saturday\", published in 2005, which explores the complexities of modern life through a series of interconnected narratives. Set against the backdrop of London's busy streets and amidst the global events of that year, McEwan masterfully weaves together disparate storylines to reveal the intricate tapestry of human relationships. The era's emphasis on globalization, consumerism, and instant gratification likely influenced McEwan's exploration of choice and direction.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\n\nOn the surface, this quote appears to describe a casual, almost whimsical approach to life, where individuals make choices without clear purpose or destination. However, upon closer examination, it reveals a profound commentary on the human condition: that our lives are not merely a series of random decisions but rather an aggregation of deliberate choices that collectively shape our trajectories. This paradox highlights how individual agency and responsibility blend with the complexities of modern life.\n\n**How to Use This**\n\nIn today's fast-paced world, where constant distractions and instant gratification can lead to aimlessness, this insight encourages us to approach decision-making as a cumulative process, acknowledging that every choice we make contributes to our overall direction. By recognizing the interplay between individual agency and circumstance, professionals and creatives alike can cultivate a mindful approach to goal-setting, embracing both short-term spontaneity and long-term purpose.",{"id":66,"quote_text":67,"author_id":5,"source_id":35,"has_image":48,"author":68,"source":69,"quote_tag":70,"commentary":9},3085070,"Childhoods shine through adult skin, helpfully or not.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":72,"quote_text":73,"author_id":5,"source_id":35,"has_image":48,"author":74,"source":75,"quote_tag":76,"commentary":9},3085069,"Pessimism is too easy, even delicious, the badge and plume of intellectuals everywhere. It absolves the thinking classes of solutions.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":78,"quote_text":79,"author_id":5,"source_id":35,"has_image":48,"author":80,"source":81,"quote_tag":82,"commentary":9},3085067,"Early in my conscious life one of my fingers, not then subject to my influence, brushed past a shrimp-like protuberance between my legs. And though shrimp and fingertip lay at differing distances from my brain, they felt each other simultaneously, a diverting issue in neuroscience known as the binding problem.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":84,"quote_text":85,"author_id":5,"source_id":35,"has_image":48,"author":86,"source":87,"quote_tag":88,"commentary":9},3085065,"I wouldn’t mind being the lead guitarist in an incredibly successful rock band. However, I don’t play the guitar.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":90,"quote_text":91,"author_id":5,"source_id":35,"has_image":48,"author":92,"source":93,"quote_tag":94,"commentary":9},3085064,"However close you get to others, you can never get inside them, even when you’re inside them.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":96,"quote_text":97,"author_id":5,"source_id":35,"has_image":48,"author":98,"source":99,"quote_tag":100,"commentary":9},3085062,"I’m close to my mother’s heart and know its rhythms and sudden turns. And now! It accelerates at her husband’s voice, and there’s an added sound, a disturbance in the chambers, like the distant rattling of maracas, or gravel shuffled softly in a tin. From down here I’d say it’s a semilunar valve whose cusps are snapping to hard and sticking. Or it could be her teeth.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":102,"quote_text":103,"author_id":5,"source_id":35,"has_image":48,"author":104,"source":105,"quote_tag":106,"commentary":9},3085061,"By measuring individual human worth, the novelist reveals the full enormity of the State.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"currentPage":108,"totalPages":109,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":23},1,53]