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Something else emerges from this discussion about us as human individuals: we're not fixed, stable intellects riding along peering at the world through the lenses of our eyes like the pilots of people-shaped spacecraft. We are affected constantly by what's going on around us. Whether our flexibility is based in neuroplasticity or in less dramatic aspects of the brain, we have to start acknowledging that we are mutable, persuadable and vulnerable to clever distortions, and that very often what we want to be is a matter of constant effort rather than attaining a given state and then forgetting about it. Being human isn't like hanging your hat on a hook and leaving it there, it's like walking in a high wind: you have to keep paying attention. You have to be engaged with the world. By Nick Harkaway Individuals Fixed Stable Spacecraft Emerges

[A]ll that mystical jabber about expecting the unexpected is just so much toffee. Expect the unexpected, Edie was told by a sour veteran sergeant in Burma, and the expected will walk up to you and blow your expectations out through the back of your head. Expect the expected, just don't forget the rest. By Nick Harkaway Unexpected Expect Toffee Mystical Jabber

give a fig for the dead while they was still alive, or if they never gave a fig for you, because let's face it, as great a proportion of the dead are arseholes as the living. It stands to reason, although you won't find many funerals begin with 'he was a total pain in the neck and only half as clever as he thought, so let's put him in the ground and have a pint, and good riddance.' I've always thought that would have a certain charm, myself. By Nick Harkaway Fig Dead Give Alive Living

The boy reported - after the Sergeant had slept for a few hours, which was not nearly enough - that YouTube had actually gone down for ten minutes under the weight of traffic. The story was truly global, truly immense: not Obama, not Justin Bieber, not Psy and not Bin Laden had ever touched this, he said. Not Khaled Saeed and not Mohamed Bouazizi, either. If Pippa Middleton and Megan Fox had announced their intention to marry during a live theatrical production of 50 Shades of Grey starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and then taken off their clothes to reveal their bodies tattooed with the text of the eighth Harry Potter novel, they might have approached this level of frenzy. But probably not, the boy said, because not everyone liked Benedict Cumberbatch. By Nick Harkaway Sergeant Cumberbatch Reported Hours Traffic

He lounged and exhaled, and felt some small part of himself relax, like the moment when the elastic band on a child's toy plane, wound and wound until the twisting redoubles upon itself and then let go to power the propeller, spasms once and releases that second layer of knots. He By Nick Harkaway Wound Exhaled Relax Plane Propeller

I'm a bit concerned about you, Jed. If you think Britain looks like a gusset, your girlfriends have been giving you a very strange idea of what sex is all these years.""Seen from space, Lester. Space. The place where British people do not go because the British space programme is, what, two guys with a really long stick?""In that way, Jed, it is very much like US healthcare. By Nick Harkaway Jed Lester Space British Bit

He hates chain stores and fast-food restaurants, mass-produced items and fashionable clothes - any instance of something that is repeated across the world regardless of local context. These things deny the uniqueness of each moment and each person. They function as if we were all printed out of plastic like egg boxes, and they try to make us function the same way. They are the intrusion of perfection into our grubby, smelly, sweaty living place. By Nick Harkaway Restaurants Massproduced Clothes Context Hates

Just got to fnafflebrump caddwallame, all right? Edie says, and no one pays attention. She learned at Lady Gravely's that nonsense which can be misheard is a very good way to lie without getting caught. People just insert whatever they think you must be doing, and - having lied to themselves on your behalf - are disinclined to check up on you. By Nick Harkaway Caddwallame Fnafflebrump Lady Gravely Edie

I am afraid of falling, of fire, of torture and monsters and infestations of spiders and wild dogs and cancer and the End of the World (a proper one, without a sequel) and everything else I have imagined in the small hours between two and four, when unreasonable, improbable waking nightmares can attain solidity and bulk. I By Nick Harkaway World End Falling Fire Sequel

People don't want children to know what they need to know. They want their kids to know what they ought to need to know. If you're a teacher you're in a constant battle with mildly deluded adults who think the world will get better if you imagine it is better. You want to teach about sex? Fine, but only when they're old enough to do it. You want to talk politics? Sure, but nothing modern. Religion? So long as you don't actually think about it. Otherwise some furious mob will come to your house and burn you for a witch. By Nick Harkaway People Children Kids Fine Teacher

At the heart of both democracy and capitalism is a simple assumption that, across the board, people make free and relatively rational decisions: that we are, to borrow a medical term, Gillick Competent. By Nick Harkaway Gillick Competent Board People Decisions

He obliterates things, she realized. He shatters them. They think they've won because he's a bit vague and he waffles, but that only goes so far. It's his shell, like a tortoise, if a tortoise was soft on the outside and dangerous on the inside. That's how the Time War ended: he got to the bottom of his patience, and he took two entire civilisations out of the universe and lock them away, and one of them was his own. That's how sharp his sense of obligation is.And he lives like that. He does it all the time. By Nick Harkaway Things Realized Obliterates Time Tortoise

You need to relax and be yourself, not whoever it is you're trying to be in your mad little head. I bloody don't, though. I'm me and I'm good at it. By Nick Harkaway Head Relax Mad Bloody Good

Privacy is a protection from the unreasonable use of state and corporate power. But that is, in a sense, a secondary thing. In the first instance, privacy is the statement in words of a simple understanding, which belongs to the instinctive world rather than the formal one, that some things are the province of those who experience them and not naturally open to the scrutiny of others: courtship and love, with their emotional nakedness; the simple moments of family life; the appalling rawness of grief. That the state and other systems are precluded from snooping on these things is important - it is a strong barrier between the formal world and the hearth, extended or not - but at root privacy is a simple understanding: not everything belongs to everyone. By Nick Harkaway Privacy Simple Power Protection Unreasonable

There is a sense that everything should be easy, but easy decisions are the ones we should be scared of because if they're easy then we're probably being sold something. This is why I'm worried about "nudge" - it's pushing people in the direction of what you think they should be doing. Easy decisions are dangerous ones. By Nick Harkaway Easy Decisions Sense Scared Sold

In the distant past, in what might be described as the Golden Days of War, the business of wreaking havoc on your neighbours (these being the only people you could logistically expect to wreak havoc upon) was uncomplicated. You - the King - pointed at the next-door country and said, "I want me one of those!" Your vassals - stalwart fellows selected for heft and musculature rather than brain - said, "Yes, my liege," or sometimes, "What's in it for me?" but broadly speaking they rode off and burned, pillaged, slaughtered and hacked until either you were richer by a few hundred square miles of forest and farmland, or you were rudely arrested by heathens from the other side who wanted a word in your shell-like ear about cross-border aggression. It was a personal thing, and there was little doubt about who was responsible for kicking it off, because that person was to be found in the nicest room of a big stone house wearing a very expensive hat. By Nick Harkaway Havoc War Golden Days Past

My loss of faith is sudden, and it's not so much a conversion as a reappraisal. Children are still modeling the world, still understanding how it works; their convictions are malleable, like their bones. Thus, I experience no sudden horrible wrench as my belief is uprooted, but rather a feeling like the right pair of glasses being put in front of my face after some time wearing someone else's. By Nick Harkaway Reappraisal Loss Faith Conversion Sudden

I do public appearances. I'm bluff, hearty, goofy. I wear loud clothes, and I read the funny bits. I occasionally get taken to task for one thing or another, and I acknowledge my fault, my flaw, my failure, and I move on. By Nick Harkaway Appearances Public Hearty Goofy Bluff

We are bodies which think, and we're at home with steampunk because it is an ethos of design and creativity which acknowledges the humanly physical: that which we can understand with our fingers. By Nick Harkaway Physical Fingers Bodies Home Steampunk

Joe, you did fine," Mercer says. "You were great. But there is no question that we are in the shit. We are in the savage jungle. For some reason, which I do not yet apprehend, there are titans stirring in the deeps and shadows on the stairwell. As my youngest cousin Lawrence would say, we are up to our necks in podu. This, incidentally, is Reggie, who is one of my occasional thugs," indicating the gnarled youth on his left. "Now retiring to become a vet, would you believe, but for the next ten minutes you can trust him with your life, only don't, trust me instead. Anyway ... good evening, and what the fuck is going on, and try the lamb, it's excellent. By Nick Harkaway Mercer Joe Fine Trust Great

A woman who can eat a real bruschetta is a woman you can love and who can love you. Someone who pushes the thing away because it's messy is never going to cackle at you toothlessly across the living room of your retirement cottage or drag you back from your sixth heart attack by sheer furious affection. Never happen. You need a woman who isn't afraid of a faceful of olive oil for that. By Nick Harkaway Love Woman Eat Real Bruschetta

Joe Spork opens the door. The man departs. Joe turns to Polly to say something about how they're obviously not going to Portsmouth, and finds an oyster knife balanced on his cheek, just under his eye."Can we be very clear," Polly Cradle murmurs, "that I am not your booby sidekick or your Bond girl? That I am an independent supervillain in my own right?"Joe swallows. "Yes, we can," he says carefully."There will therefore be no more 'Say hello, Polly'?""There will not. By Nick Harkaway Spork Joe Polly Door Opens

Ari regards cats as lessons in the journey through life. Cats, he explains, are divine messengers of patience. Joe, one shoulder still sore from a near miss two weeks ago, says they are Satanic messengers of discord and pruritus. Ari says this is possible, but by the workings of the ineffable divinity, even if they are Satanic messengers of discord and pruritus, they are also tutors sent by the Cosmic All. "They are of themselves," Ari says, clutching this morning's consignment of organic milk, some of which is leaking through the plastic, "an opportunity for self-education. By Nick Harkaway Ari Messengers Satanic Cats Life

It's usually best not to ask philosophers anything, precisely because they have the habit of what in the Persian language is called sanud: the profitless consideration of unsettling yet inconsequential things. By Nick Harkaway Persian Precisely Sanud Things Philosophers

This is the gift of focus, or wilful denial, and it is something boys are particularly good at. Girls - at least where I grew up - tend to be more emotionally balanced and sane, and therefore find the kind of all-excluding concentration you need to care about dinosaurs, taxonomy, philately and geopolitical schemes a bit worrying and sad. Girls can grasp the bigger picture (i.e., it might be better not to destroy the world over this), where boys have a perfect grip on the fine print (i.e., this insidious idea is antithetical to our existence and cannot be allowed to flourish alongside our peace-loving, free society). Note carefully how it is probably better to let the girls deal with weapons of mass destruction. By Nick Harkaway Focus Denial Girls Gift Wilful

I love you forever. I am sorry I cannot love you now. By Nick Harkaway Forever Love

I'm not shy, exactly, but I am private. I don't like to talk about myself. I had to learn - I was interviewed for print, radio and even TV. By Nick Harkaway Shy Private Talk Learn Print

I never engage negatively with reviewers. If someone says something that enrages me, I do what I do on stage. I make a joke about myself and move on. Sometimes people say things that are manifestly wrong or even apparently malicious. That's fine, too. It's a response. By Nick Harkaway Reviewers Engage Negatively Stage Enrages

No. The moral of the story in so far as it has one is that cannibals can study logic, and that if you are going to leave the path, you better have your wits about you and know better than to trust the first scary old lady who talks to you in public. By Nick Harkaway Logic Path Public Moral Story

Mercer," Polly says, "we are now going to hug. As a group. The experience will be very un-English. It will be good for you. Do not speak, at all, especially not in an attempt to diffuse the emotional intensity of the situation."They hug, somewhat awkwardly, but with great feeling."Well," Mercer says, after a moment, "that was certainly - ""I will hit you with a shovel," Polly Cradle murmurs. By Nick Harkaway Polly Mercer Hug Group Cradle

We were deluged together in the raw, unbalanced Stuff of the universe. Inevitable consequence:My own little reification.I was made flesh, and in the process taken from him. I was never supposed to be real. How terrifying to confide your every doubt to an imaginary companion, to bequeath to him every alternative, and then one day turn and see him standing before you. Gonzo must be feeling so hollow inside, with me spun out and separated from him. It must be quiet and empty in there.And that, of course, is how I survived being shot. Freshly minted, new, I wasn't real enough to die. By Nick Harkaway Stuff Raw Unbalanced Universe Deluged

I grew up on the Roger Moore and Sean Connery Bond movies, so the DNA of my spies is extremely ridiculous and goofy. By Nick Harkaway Roger Moore Sean Connery Bond

Modern war is distinguished by the fact that all the participants are ostensibly unwilling. We are swept towards one another like colonies of heavily armed penguins on an ice floe. Every speech on the subject given by any involved party begins by deploring even the idea of war. A war here would not be legal or useful. It is not necessary or appropriate. It must be avoided. Immediately following this proud declamation comes a series of circumlocutions, circumventions and rhetoricocircumambulations which make it clear that we will go to war, but not really, because we don't want to and aren't allowed to, so what we're doing is in fact some kind of hyper-violent peace in which people will die. We are going to un-war. By Nick Harkaway War Modern Unwilling Distinguished Participants

The end doesn't justify anything, because all we ever live with is the means. By Nick Harkaway End Justify Live

Newton's work on gravity led to the discovery of the Lagrange point, a place where opposing forces cancel one another out, and a body may remain at relative rest. This is where I am right now; the forces in my life confound one another. Better, for the moment, to be here and now, without history or future. By Nick Harkaway Lagrange Newton Point Rest Forces

Piracy is robbery with violence, often segueing into murder, rape and kidnapping. It is one of the most frightening crimes in the world. Using the same term to describe a twelve-year-old swapping music with friends, even thousands of songs, is evidence of a loss of perspective so astounding that it invites and deserves the derision it receives. By Nick Harkaway Piracy Violence Murder Rape Kidnapping

Mercer opens hi mouth to argue, and Bastion Banister chooses this moment to open his mouth and snap at the circling bee. To his own evident surprise, he captures it, and there's a curious little glonking noise as he swallows it whole. Mercer cringes slightly, as if expecting the dog to explode.Nothing happens."All right," Polly Cradle says, and then, pro forma, "Bastion, you're a very naughty boy.""Yes," Mercer says acidly. "The dog has consumed a possibly lethal technological device of immense sophistication, deprived us of our only piece of tangible evidence and possibly doomed us all to some sort of arcane scientific retaliative strike. By all means, chide him severely with your voice. That will solve everyone's problems. By Nick Harkaway Mercer Banister Mouth Bastion Argue

Knowledge is not just power - it is control. By Nick Harkaway Knowledge Power Control

Being a parent is weird. It changes people in subtle and unsubtle ways. In my case, it awoke a kind of manic sentinel in my brain. Anything in the house that might be a threat to the kids or to my wife gets terminated - food, sharp edges, poor wiring. By Nick Harkaway Weird Parent Food People Subtle

I know that when I talk to my parents and my friends, there's a strong feeling of the world out of control and damaged. By Nick Harkaway Friends Damaged Talk Parents Strong

Lights burn on the upper floors, traders and analysts letting commerce take precedence over family one more time in a desperate attempt to add to a Christmas bonus they won't have time to spend. By Nick Harkaway Christmas Time Lights Floors Traders

Joe Spork opens the door. The man departs. Joe turns to Polly to say something about how they're obviously not going to Portsmouth, and finds an oyster knife balanced on his cheek, just under his eye.br />br />"Can we be very clear," Polly Cradle murmurs, "that I am not your booby sidekick or your Bond girl? That I am an independent supervillain in my own right?"br />br />Joe swallows. "Yes, we can," he says carefully.br />br />"There will therefore be no more 'Say hello, Polly'?"br />br />"There will not. By Nick Harkaway Spork Joe Polly Door Opens

Mr. Pritchard! What are you doing? Is that O-soto-gari? No! It is not! It is a yak mating with a tractor! That is really very very not very good! My grandfather is weeping in Heaven, or he would if there were such a place, which there is not because religion is a mystification contrived by monarchists! Again! Again, and this time do it properly! By Nick Harkaway Pritchard Heaven Tractor Good Place

The sergeants are shunted forward and they blink and stare up at Gonzo as he leans on the edge of his giant mixing bowl. MacArthur never addressed his troops from a mixing bowlnot even one made from a spare geodesic radio emplacement shelland certainly de Gaulle never did. But Gonzo Lubitsch does, and he does it as if a whole long line of commanders were standing at his shoulder, urging him on."Gentlemen," says Gonzo softly, "holidays are over. I need an oven, and I need one in about twenty minutes, or these fine flapjacks will go to waste, and that is not happening."And something about this statement and the voice in which he says it makes it clear that this is simply true. One way or another, this thing will get done. Under a layer of grime and horror, these two are soldiers, and more, they are productive, can-do sorts of people. Rustily but with a gratitude which is not so far short of worship, they say "Yes, sir" and are about their business. By Nick Harkaway Gonzo Mixing Bowl Sergeants Shunted

Joshua Joseph has no real hatred of modern technology - he just mistrusts the effortless, textureless surfaces, and the ease with which it trains you to do things in the way most convenient to the machine. Above all, he mistrusts duplication. A rare thing becomes a commonplace thing. A skill becomes a feature. The end is more important than the means. The child of the soul gives place to a product of the system ... For anything really important, Joe prefers something with a history, an item which can name the hand which assembled it and will warm to the one that deploys it. A thing of life, rather than one of the many consumer items which humans use to make more clutter; strange parasitic devices with their own little ecosystems. By Nick Harkaway Joseph Thing Mistrusts Joshua Technology

Joshua Joseph had no great hatred of modern technology - he just mistrusts the effortless, textureless surfaces and the ease with which it trains you to do things in the way most convenient to the machine. Above all he mistrusts duplication. A rare thing becomes a commonplace thing. A skill becomes a feature. The end is more important than the means. The child of the soul gives place to a product of the system. By Nick Harkaway Joseph Mistrusts Joshua Technology Effortless

An important part of the Internet is that it provides a space for people whose identities are socially unacceptable. If it enables someone who feels minoritised to be who they want to be, it's actually worth having other people be offensive. I'd much rather have both than have neither. By Nick Harkaway Internet Unacceptable People Important Part

He wore his medals. He had a surprising number of them, the real kind, not the ones you got for turning up. Although turning up was no mean thing, some days. By Nick Harkaway Medals Wore Turning Kind Thing

I shall now explain my plan. You may then speak, but only to amend the detail. The broad outline is not subject to negotiation. Are you ready? Good ... I propose to have sex with you. I believe it will be excellent sex. Your obedience on one particular issue of timing it will be required to make it unforgettable sex. I will explain that issue as we go. At the moment, I wish to hear your inevitable objection to the general sex part of this plan. By Nick Harkaway Sex Plan Explain Issue Speak

Sir Terry Pratchett - he was knighted in 2009, and on him it looked earned rather than entitled - wrote about dragons, wizards, turtles, witches, time-travelling monks, and suitcases with legs. By Nick Harkaway Wizards Turtles Witches Pratchett Terry

I am the world's most appalling martial artist. I am so bad. I've studied jujitsu, kickboxing, t'ai chi. Once, I was sparring with someone, made a mistake, and managed to knock them down. I was so shocked that I dropped to my knees to see if they were all right, and then they knocked me out cold. From the floor. By Nick Harkaway Artist World Appalling Martial Bad

Victorian theorists competed to identify how many biologically differentiated races lived on Earth and proposed inherent characteristics for them, formulated explanations for these presumed variations in humanity. By Nick Harkaway Earth Victorian Formulated Humanity Theorists

We have a curious relationship with 'funny' in the U.K. We love to laugh, but we also think that making people laugh is just a little bit second-tier, especially in a literary context. By Nick Harkaway Funny Laugh Secondtier Context Curious

Booksellers are tied to publishing - they need conventional publishing models to continue - but for those companies, that's not the case. Amazon is an infrastructure company; Apple sells hardware; Google is really an advertising company. You can't afford as a publisher to have those companies control your route to market. By Nick Harkaway Publishing Booksellers Continue Case Company

Modernism isn't a design ethos any more, it's an economy of scale, and a marketing tool to sell the ordinary as something special, the sexless as erotic. A technological device without a specific, personalized identity has a subtext: it asserts the value of instrumentality. Its design is a reflection of its role ... The anonymity of these objects is part of what they are: interchangeable commodities whose uniqueness in so far as they possess any is created by what is done with them. Function is an identity. And that identity is something we are encouraged to incorporate into our perception of self, that anonymity is proposed as something to emulate. Whimsy and uniqueness are indulgences. By Nick Harkaway Modernism Scale Special Erotic Identity

Revolutions come in two stages: the bit where everything gets smashed and the bit where you have to build it again. The first is great fun; the second is so very hard. By Nick Harkaway Bit Revolutions Stages Smashed Build

You end up with a machine which knows that by its mildest estimate it must have terrible enemies all around and within it, but it can't find them. It therefore deduces that they are well-concealed and expert, likely professional agitators and terrorists. Thus, more stringent and probing methods are called for. Those who transgress in the slightest, or of whom even small suspicions are harboured, must be treated as terrible foes. A lot of rather ordinary people will get repeatedly investigated with increasing severity until the Government Machine either finds enemies or someone very high up indeed personally turns the tide ... And these people under the microscope are in fact just taking up space in the machine's numerical model. In short, innocent people are treated as hellish fiends of ingenuity and bile because there's a gap in the numbers. By Nick Harkaway Machine End Mildest Estimate People

Margaret Thatcher inherited a country in transition. The British Empire was still a considerable entity well into the 20th century. By Nick Harkaway Thatcher Margaret Transition Century Inherited

Digital books are still painfully ugly and weirdly irritating to interact with. They look like copies of paper, but they can't be designed or typeset in the same way as paper, and however splendid the cover images may look on a hi-res screen, they're still images rather than physical things. By Nick Harkaway Digital Paper Books Painfully Ugly

Inoue was standing at the point of a spear composed of irate Japanese geeks, and he was pleased to see that the principal reaction on her face was a fizzing, imperious outrage. By Nick Harkaway Japanese Inoue Geeks Fizzing Imperious

I hover over the expensive Scotch and then the Armagnac, but finally settle on a glass of rich red claret. I put it near my nose and nearly pass out. It smells of old houses and aged wood and dark secrets, but also of hard, hot sunshine through ancient shutters and long, wicked afternoons in a four-poster bed. It's not a wine, it's a life, right there in the glass. By Nick Harkaway Armagnac Scotch Claret Hover Expensive

The problem isn't who is in charge. It's what is in charge. The problem is that people are encouraged to function as machines. Or, actually, as mechanisms. Human emotion and sympathy are unprofessional. They are inappropriate to the exercise of reason. Everything which makes people good - makes them human - is ruled out. The system doesn't care about people, but we treat it as if it were one of us, as if it were the sum of our goods and not the product of our least admirable compromises. By Nick Harkaway Charge Problem People Human Makes

Lemons. He liked lemons. They made you make funny faces when you bit them, and a very, very long way in the future there was a really amazing planet where they'd evolved into people and lived in harmony with a variety of hyper-intelligent bee. Evolution. Thousands and thousands of years of tiny changes could turn little burning sparks of chemistry into people, into monsters and angels and even human beings. By Nick Harkaway Lemons People Thousands Evolution Bee

After university, I went into film. I started out making tea, managed a brief stint as an assistant director, then found myself writing a screenplay. In the end, I wrote quite a few - but by January 2006, I wanted out. By Nick Harkaway University Film January Tea Managed

Like casinos, large corporate entities have studied the numbers and the ways in which people respond to them. These are not con tricks - they're not even necessarily against our direct interests, although sometimes they can be - but they are hacks for the human mind, ways of manipulating us into particular decisions we otherwise might not make. They are also, in a way, deliberate underminings of the core principle of the free market, which derives its legitimacy from the idea that informed self-interest on aggregate sets appropriate prices for items. The key word is 'informed'; the point of behavioural economics - or rather, of its somewhat buccaneering corporate applications - is to skew our perception of the purchase to the advantage of the company. The overall consequence of that is to tilt the construction of our society away from what it should be if we were making the rational decisions classical economics imagines we would, and towards something else. By Nick Harkaway Casinos Large Entities Studied Numbers

I do not know, at this point, whether Joshua Joseph Spork is the man of my life. He could be. I have given it considerable thought. The jury is still out. The issue between you and me is that you wish to deprive me of the opportunity to find out. Joe Spork is not yours to give or to withhold from me, Mr. Cummerbund. He is mine, until I decide otherwise. You have caused him grief, sullied his name, and you have hurt him. If anyone is going to make him weep, or lie about him, or even do bad things to him, it is me. By Nick Harkaway Joshua Joseph Point Life Spork

I wrote the first draft of 'Tigerman' while my wife was pregnant - needless to say, I was relaxed and casual about her well-being during this tender time - and the novel clearly has its center in that panicked parental desperation that accompanies a first child and in the admittedly comedic extremes to which it drives us. By Nick Harkaway Tigerman Pregnant Needless Time Wrote

I make up names for people all the time - it's part of writing. Very often, the name comes with the character, along with of a sense of who they are and what they do. By Nick Harkaway Time Writing Make People Part

'Tigerman' was born in the front seat of a Hilux SUV on the road north out of Chiang Mai. By Nick Harkaway Tigerman Mai Hilux Suv Chiang

In the aftermath of September 11, you can't - as Tony Blair was so fond of suggesting - draw a line under historical events. They don't go away. They come back. By Nick Harkaway September Tony Blair Suggesting Draw

His grandfather was scathing about "speculative faith," which is the kind you get from worrying about the possibility that God exists and may be cross with you. Daniel Spork observed that God, if there is one, is well aware of the interior dialogue, and most likely unimpressed by it. Much better, he said, to get on with being the man you are, and hope like buggery that God thinks you did as well as could be expected. Hence all the lessons and strictures concealed in everyday objects. _Learn the shape of the world, know the mind of God._ By Nick Harkaway God Speculative Faith Grandfather Scathing

That's what you get for ignoring the beauty of Tupperware. By Nick Harkaway Tupperware Ignoring Beauty

Nature intended in her design a hearty life of toil, open fires and plump old age attended by a brood of sun-touched brats. By Nick Harkaway Nature Toil Open Brats Intended

Another important consequence in the arrival of digital technology and its facilitation of feedback is that we can look at large systems and recognize them once more not only as part of ourselves, but also as components that can change ... Now, though, we live in a world where text is fluid, where is responds to our instructions. Writing something down records it, but does not make it true or permanent. So why should we put up with a system we don't like simply because it's been written somewhere? By Nick Harkaway Change Important Consequence Arrival Digital

It's true that interacting through text means no eyelines, no facial expressions, no tone of voice. That can be an advantage, helping us to consider content rather than eloquence, import rather than source. By Nick Harkaway Eyelines Expressions Voice True Interacting

Dressing, I chose the second shirt, the one softened in the mouth of a trained and perfumed albino hippopotamus and made entirely of pigeon's wool, because it goes better with the shoes than the one stitched with baby hair. By Nick Harkaway Dressing Shirt Wool Hair Chose

The Internet has the capacity to extend to us genuine choice, and that is not without risk. Real power does entail real responsibility. By Nick Harkaway Internet Choice Risk Capacity Extend

This place does not feel like my country. It feels like countries I have read about where things are very bad. It feels, in fact, like exactly the kind of thing we were protesting against, but we thought it was elsewhere. It is not heartening to find that it has come to us. By Nick Harkaway Feels Country Place Feel Bad

Edie Banister, wearing a false moustache which tastes of tiger flank and erotic dancer, sitting six storeys up on the windowsill of the aged mother of a renownedly murderous prince, takes a few seconds to contemplate the unusual direction of her life. By Nick Harkaway Banister Edie Wearing Dancer Sitting

In a novel, even if you put a country in the wrong hemisphere, which I've done, I can always claim it was part of the additional weirdness of the story. By Nick Harkaway Hemisphere Story Put Country Wrong

Annabelle growls tunelessly, like a bear hibernating on a bassoonist. By Nick Harkaway Annabelle Tunelessly Bassoonist Growls Bear

Don't fuck around thinking you could have done it better. There is no better. There's just not being dead. By Nick Harkaway Fuck Thinking Dead

His perceptions of copperhood were formed by the dream of England, still. A copper was a bloke in a slightly silly hat who walked the beat, talked to shopkeepers about the price of fish, and sorted out young ruffians. You didn't attack him. It was like attacking a field of wheat, and anyway, you'd have to answer to his mum. By Nick Harkaway England Perceptions Copperhood Formed Dream

Destiny' is the state of perfect mechanical causation in which everything is the consequence of everything else. If choice is an illusion, what's life? Consciousness without volition. We'd all be passengers, no more real than model trains. By Nick Harkaway Destiny State Perfect Mechanical Causation

ARGH! There's no such thing [as writer's block]. Seriously: THERE. IS. NO. SUCH. THING. You know what there is? There's a bunch of problems, creative and otherwise, that can stop you writing. They are not block. They are important skills. By Nick Harkaway Argh Thing Block Writer Problems

I'm fascinated by human agency - by the process of decision, both in the individual and the mass. By Nick Harkaway Agency Decision Mass Fascinated Human

Which knew and understood and did not shy away from the understanding that there would be pain. Which could accept shattering, could reassemble itself, could stand taller than before. By Nick Harkaway Pain Knew Understood Shy Understanding

She dances in the water. Perhaps that was as good as life got, after all. By Nick Harkaway Water Dances Good Life

He wondered if today was that day, if he'd wake up different, wake up someone else who remembered him fondly. A new Doctor. He wondered if he'd approve. Would he be more gentle? That might not be so bad. More vengeful? He hoped not. Maybe he'd be a girl. That was distantly possible. Never been a girl. The Corsair had been a girl for a while. New perspective. Confuse people. Keep life interesting. By Nick Harkaway Wake Wondered Day Fondly Girl

Kershaw had long ago realised, apparently, that dealing with Brits was tricky. You had to listen to what a Brit was saying which was invariably that he thought XYZ was a terrific idea and he hoped it went very well for you while at the same time paying heed to the greasy, nauseous suspicion you had that, although every word and phrase indicated approval, somehow the sum of the whole was that you'd have to be a mental pygmy to come up with this plan and a complete fucking idiot to pursue it. By Nick Harkaway Apparently Kershaw Realised Tricky Brits

Children, bored and opinionated, are scholars of the most dogmatic stripe. By Nick Harkaway Children Bored Opinionated Stripe Scholars

I work in our living room, a strange room in a strange, topsy-turvy house. I work underneath this enormous bookshelf. By Nick Harkaway Strange Topsyturvy House Room Work

It was made and designed by the House of Awesome, from materials found in the deep awesome mines of Awesometania and it would be recorded in the Annals of Awesome. By Nick Harkaway Awesome House Awesometania Annals Made

Now, are those engaged in the business of governing any different by nature from those they govern?""Yes. They're prideful and tend to sexual misconduct. Also, the situation of being in government tends to drive you mad.""But are they more virtuous or more intelligent? Or more compassionate?""Ha!""Let's call that one a 'no. By Nick Harkaway Govern Engaged Business Governing Nature

In the brush at the bottom of Master Wu's garden, something snuffles. I do not know whether ninjas snuffle. It seems to me that a very subtle sort of ninja might snuffle so as to make you think he was a neighbourhood dog, or just to let you know he was there and yet leave you guessing. On the other hand, maybe a ninja would regard this kind of trick as amateurish. By Nick Harkaway Master Garden Brush Bottom Snuffle

I have wrangles with Facebook, entered fictitious trips because I can't get the map to get off my page, don't want people to know where I live. It is possible to carve out a space that's your own. By Nick Harkaway Facebook Entered Page Live Wrangles

I think lots of boys sat down with 'The Three Musketeers' and felt it was a really long book, but then discovered that it's a really gripping swashbuckling story. By Nick Harkaway Musketeers Book Story Lots Boys

Gonzo stares after the Rolls-Royce. He has heroismus interruptus. He was ready, right then, to coordinate four or five hundred terrified civvies, lay down his life, kill for them, make a legend of disinterested soldiering. It's not that he resents what has happened, but he's having trouble changing gear. He was expecting to take charge. Instead he is struggling to keep up with a sexagenarian Mystery Man with an Errol Flynn grin who commands a legion of pirate-monk rally drivers and sweeps formidable older women from their feet in a could of cologne and Asian-Monarchic style. By Nick Harkaway Gonzo Rollsroyce Stares Interruptus Heroismus

The biggest lie was that the world worked the way it was supposed to, and having seen through it, Matthew Spork was free. By Nick Harkaway Matthew Spork Free Biggest Lie

A lot of author events are basically hour-long classes in entropy perched on bad seating under bright, hard lights, with - if you're lucky - bad Chardonnay and cheese on a stick waiting for you at the end of the ride. By Nick Harkaway Chardonnay Bright Hard Lights Lucky

Gonzo's father told his son to grieve without reservation or embarrassment until he could grieve solemnly and inwardly, and then finally to hang up his tears and wear them only occasionally, as befits the true men of the heart. Grief is not a thing to be ashamed of or suppressed, he told Gonzo. Nor yet is it a thing to cherish. Feel it, inhabit it and leave it behind. It is right, but it is not the end. By Nick Harkaway Grieve Gonzo Inwardly Occasionally Heart

Ninjas are silly. They are the flower fairies of gong fu and karate. By Nick Harkaway Ninjas Silly Karate Flower Fairies

A desire for privacy does not imply shameful secrets; Moglen argues, again and again, that without anonymity in discourse, free speech is impossible, and hence also democracy. The right to speak the truth to power does not shield the speaker from the consequences of doing so; only comparable power or anonymity can do that. By Nick Harkaway Moglen Secrets Argues Discourse Free

My dad and I compete on the pool table; that's the most important competition of our lives. The fact that I'm writing and it works for me is one of the great joys for him. We talk about writing, and it's great. By Nick Harkaway Table Lives Dad Compete Pool

I can show him how to be the right kind of stupid. By Nick Harkaway Stupid Show Kind

A cherry pie is ... ephemeral. From the moment it emerges from the oven it begins a steep decline: from too hot to edible to cold to stale to mouldy, and finally to a post-pie state where only history can tell you that it was once considered food. The pie is a parable of human life. By Nick Harkaway Ephemeral Pie Cherry Decline Mouldy

Deserts are like nearly bald men having a haircut. The difference is absolutely crucial from within, but to the rest of us it's still a dusty scrubland with little in the way of plant life. By Nick Harkaway Deserts Haircut Bald Men Life

I am an avid reader of comics, though I came to them late. By Nick Harkaway Comics Late Avid Reader

I do not propose that everyone in Guantanamo or its evil twin at Bagram is innocent. I just don't believe we should incarcerate people without trial and torture them or facilitate and profit from their torture. By Nick Harkaway Guantanamo Bagram Innocent Propose Evil

I have known heaven, and now I am in hell, and there are mimes. By Nick Harkaway Heaven Hell Mimes

My scientific qualifications are relatively scant. I like science. I try really hard to educate myself about it, but in the end, if something has to go 'boom,' and it would probably only go 'fwoosh,' I am relatively unconcerned about that, which is a sin, but not, I think, a grave one. By Nick Harkaway Scant Scientific Qualifications Boom Fwoosh

We should be worrying about if you live in the city you're more likely to have anxiety or mood disorders and to be schizophrenic. More than the problems people have from social media. By Nick Harkaway Schizophrenic Worrying Live City Anxiety

I'm caught somewhere between introversion and extroversion. Performance is natural to me, joyful, but it is also exhausting. I can feed on it, but the expense is high, too, like being a carnivore: I have to chase down my meals. By Nick Harkaway Extroversion Caught Introversion Joyful Performance

Cheese is good. And Britain, despite the grumblings of the French and the outrage of the Swiss, not to mention some plucky challenges from Italy, Austria, and Spain, has some of the best cheese in the world. We're world leaders in cheese. By Nick Harkaway Cheese Good Austria Britain Swiss

You've picked up a rummy habit," James Banister said cordially as they approached one another. "Sort of a crouch. You look a bit ... well, I'm sorry, but you look a bit Victor Hugo, if you catch my drift. Would you like to adjourn to a cathedral or something? By Nick Harkaway James Banister Habit Picked Rummy

If you ask who I aspire to, well, if a single line of mine was as funny as P. G. Wodehouse can be, that would be great. By Nick Harkaway Aspire Single Line Mine Funny

When you were utterly fucked and you didn't know what to do, you got busy making sure everyone else was all right and told them not to worry and by the end of it there was a good chance you'd convinced yourself. And if you hadn't, well, sooner or later you either died or you didn't and either way the problem went away. By Nick Harkaway Utterly Fucked Busy Making Told

I'm not an absolutist about free speech. Intellectually, I believe that most of the time it's better to let things get said, argue them, and put lies and stupidities to rest. Practically, I know that newspapers rarely issue corrections with the same prominence they give to denouncements - and Twitter, by its nature, never does. By Nick Harkaway Speech Absolutist Free Intellectually Twitter

In both 'Tigerman' and my first book, 'The Gone-Away World,' there are characters who never really get names. They're too fundamentally who they are to be bound by a name, so I couldn't give them one. By Nick Harkaway Tigerman World Book Goneaway Characters

Executive power in any nation arguably has more in common with executive power in another country than with the citizens it should serve. By Nick Harkaway Power Executive Serve Nation Arguably

We tend to assume that data is either private or public, either owned by one person or shared by many. In fact there's more to it than that, above and beyond the upsetting reality that private data is now anything but. By Nick Harkaway Public Data Private Tend Assume

And really, that's the most important thing he does with his days. It's a small, measurable success, in the face of diminishing sales and an empty double bed and a set of skills which were marketable one hundred years ago, but now look quaint and even sad. Every afternoon for the last six months he has been fighting an uneven battle with himself not to overturn the trolley with its many keys, and scatter them across the room. His better nature has won only because the image of himself on his knees, remorsefully gathering them again, repairing scratched case clocks and whispering apologies to the ghost of his grandfather - and for strange and different reasons also his father - is more than he can bear. By Nick Harkaway Days Important Thing Small Measurable

You must come, Lester," Inoue had said. "You must come! We will cry for this place, but also we will dance the Funky Chicken. By Nick Harkaway Lester Inoue Chicken Funky Place

He concluded that governments were like wars: the reasons and the forces might change, but it was still the same dying over the same soil. By Nick Harkaway Wars Change Soil Concluded Governments

They seemed to believe that the right mixture of Nike, granola and hard work would turn anyone, anywhere in the world, into a millionaire. By Nick Harkaway Nike Granola World Millionaire Mixture

In the span of a human lifetime, and well within the collective memory, Britain went from a stable imperial power ruling an appreciable fraction of the Earth's surface to being a tumultuous patchwork which was at least superficially in decline. By Nick Harkaway Britain Earth Lifetime Memory Decline

There's a saying in the movie industry that if your movie is about what you actually think it's about, you're in big trouble. I think it's the same with books. By Nick Harkaway Trouble Movie Industry Big Books

Yes, you are under surveillance. Yes, it is odious. Yes, it should bother you. And yes, it's hard to know how to avoid it. By Nick Harkaway Surveillance Odious Bother Hard Avoid

Soot and sorrow: the Night Market's invocation of desperate seriousness, of doom and disaster. By Nick Harkaway Night Market Soot Sorrow Seriousness

We simply cannot afford to allow our government to go unscrutinised, most of all in amid the bleak seeming imperatives of the 'war on terror'. By Nick Harkaway Unscrutinised War Terror Simply Afford

... so that any time anyone looked up, expecting out of habit to see Shola, they caught his eye, and shared a moment with him, and the hole in the world was known and acknowledged. By Nick Harkaway Shola Expecting Eye Acknowledged Time

Photography is without mercythough it's nonsense to say it does not lie. Rather, it lies in a particular, capricious way which makes beggars of ministers and gods of cat's meat men. By Nick Harkaway Photography Mercythough Nonsense Capricious Men

And don't tell me the end justifies the means because it doesn't. We never reach the end. All we ever get is means. That's what we live with. By Nick Harkaway End Justifies Reach Live

I mean that the escape of knowledge into the realm of wider society irretrievably alters the nature of our lives. By Nick Harkaway Lives Escape Knowledge Realm Wider

I used desperately to want to be a brooding hero from literature, but I'm optimistic, healthy and fair-haired. By Nick Harkaway Literature Optimistic Healthy Fairhaired Desperately

The tree of nonsense is watered with error, and from its branches swing the pumpkins of disaster. By Nick Harkaway Error Disaster Tree Nonsense Watered

Bones were not strong just because they were the strongest thing a human body had. By Nick Harkaway Bones Strong Strongest Thing Human

Law is error, you see. It's an attempt to write down a lot of things everyone ought to know anyway. By Nick Harkaway Law Error Attempt Write Lot

It's not that any sufficiently advanced technology is magic, it's that any technology taking place beyond the threshold of our senses is. By Nick Harkaway Magic Technology Sufficiently Advanced Taking

As I work, I see my writing - each scene, each chapter, each section, each book - in three-act structures and classic myths, and I analyze them through the handy filter of the detective story. By Nick Harkaway Work Writing Scene Chapter Section

In ancient Greece, Socrates reportedly didn't fancy a literate society. He felt that people would lose the capacity to think for themselves, simply adopting the perspective of a handy written opinion, and that they would cease to remember what could be written down. By Nick Harkaway Greece Socrates Society Ancient Reportedly

The important thing is that if I can get to it and get back out again without being spotted, it will be a useful study aid in my newly chosen specialist field of getting-the-fuck-out-of-here-ology. By Nick Harkaway Spotted Important Thing Back Study

Never mind, never mind, let's get to the part where we smite the unrighteous. I've brought my most alarming teeth! By Nick Harkaway Mind Unrighteous Part Smite Teeth

To recap: it is possible to put decent information into a Government Machine, have ordinary, good people running the thing, and a reasonable system in place, and still get utter idiocy out of the dispenser?""More than possible. Likely. By Nick Harkaway Machine Government Recap Ordinary Good

Society is based on discontent: people wanting more and more and more, being continually dissatisfied with their homes, their bodies, their decor, their clothes, everything. By Nick Harkaway Society Discontent People Homes Bodies

It was his experience that one did poorly by involving oneself in matters of local religion. The world looked one way if you believed, and another if you did not, and that was all there was to it. By Nick Harkaway Religion Experience Poorly Involving Oneself

My family has something of a special relationship with confidence tricks: my grandfather was a professional swindler. By Nick Harkaway Tricks Swindler Family Special Relationship

Throughout the '90s and early 2000s, our financial industry and governments leaned on a snake-oil mirage of wealth creation, a bubble predicated on the obvious falsehood that things could only get better. By Nick Harkaway Early Creation Financial Industry Governments

I think the reason I wrote screenplays for nearly a decade was because it was my territory. I could stake that out. By Nick Harkaway Territory Reason Wrote Screenplays Decade

The interesting thing, to the Sergeant, was how these stories were at least in one way quite true to life: you didn't know whether you were the hero or not until the end, because at any time up to that moment you could just get eaten and the rest would be about someone else. In fact you were never safe, because sometimes the monsters won. By Nick Harkaway Sergeant Thing Life End Interesting

Professional politicians will say anything, and they're always careful to leave themselves room to turn around and do the other. By Nick Harkaway Professional Politicians Careful Leave Room

The idea that the law should punish what is rude; that government should protect our tender sensibilities from those who would - quite often with shallow motivations but sometimes with deeper and more serious complaints - challenge our national certainties and rituals, should alarm and anger us. By Nick Harkaway Rude Complaints Challenge Rituals Idea

Happiness is boundlessly weird. Other people's choices often seem to delight them, where I would run screaming. By Nick Harkaway Happiness Weird Boundlessly Screaming People

Real life has no understanding of proper structure," the boy said, "which is why news stories are always made of little lies. By Nick Harkaway Real Structure Lies Life Understanding

The notion of our leaders as patrician ascetics of unassailable virtue is risible. By Nick Harkaway Risible Notion Leaders Patrician Ascetics

'Gone-Away World' was a shotgun blast, an explosion out of the box I'd put myself into writing film scripts. 'Tigerman' is shorter, tighter, more crafted. By Nick Harkaway World Tigerman Tighter Goneaway Blast

Crotch biting menace:I have my mouth in close proximity to your genitals.Oh thou man who talks to my mistress over coffee.Do not irk or trifle with me! I possess but one tooth, oh, yes, for the rest were buried long ago in the flesh of sinners.Behold my jaws, upper and lower in righteous, symmetrical poverty.Move not, man of clocks, and heed my mistress, for she cherishes me, even in my foul old age. By Nick Harkaway Mistress Crotch Menace Man Biting

Whether you're choosing for yourself or for a character - or for a child - names have baggage of their own. By Nick Harkaway Character Child Choosing Baggage

When your friend is decomposing, surely you owe it to them to inhale their death. To do otherwise seems impossible prim. By Nick Harkaway Decomposing Surely Death Friend Owe

We don't need to chase a nostalgic rendering of Britain as it never was and never can be: we need instead an understanding of who we really are and what a happy, prosperous, just nation might look like. By Nick Harkaway Prosperous Britain Happy Chase Nostalgic

I thought about my personal version of heaven, which is small and calm and features only one angel, who cannot sing. By Nick Harkaway Heaven Angel Sing Thought Personal

I read my father's books growing up. I thought then and I still think now that his writing is wonderful. It delights and infuriates me in equal measure that he's still that good. By Nick Harkaway Read Father Books Growing Wonderful

With true free speech has to come an understanding of when and when not to use it. But you can't legislate that. It must be voluntary - especially in a world where a whisper can reach a million people in an eye blink. By Nick Harkaway True Free Speech Understanding Voluntary

He seems an unlikely companion for a woman like Edie Banister, but the world, Daniel once observed, is a great honeycombed thing composed of separated mysteries. By Nick Harkaway Banister Daniel Edie World Observed

The game is fixed. Alwayas has been, always will be, and the only way out for a man is the gangster's road. By Nick Harkaway Fixed Game Alwayas Road Man

If we one day cease to exist, what will be remarkable is that we were ever here at all. By Nick Harkaway Exist Day Cease Remarkable

Nowhere have I ever heard of Satan taking the form of an avuncular hippie. No doubt he could. It just seems inefficient. By Nick Harkaway Satan Hippie Heard Taking Form

The market, as we're all painfully aware in the aftermath of the banking crisis, can be an idiot. It has no perception of right or wrong, or even sensible or insane. It sees profit. By Nick Harkaway Market Crisis Idiot Painfully Aware

It's a Shit Creek tsunami, is what it is. Paddles are no longer the issue. By Nick Harkaway Shit Creek Tsunami Paddles Issue

I'm a novelist: I spend a great part of my day pretending to myself that I'm in a different world, being a different person, faced with decisions I pretend I haven't created. By Nick Harkaway Novelist World Person Faced Created

Names aren't just coathooks, they're coats. They're the first thing anyone knows about you. By Nick Harkaway Coathooks Coats Thing

We lose stories every day because they drift out of use and into the vast limbo of in-copyright, out-of-print books whose ownership is unclear. By Nick Harkaway Incopyright Books Unclear Lose Stories

Faith has always struck him as either a tremendous gift or an appalling deception, depending on whether there's a God or not. By Nick Harkaway God Faith Deception Depending Struck

My books are written from the heart, to entertain: they're books I would like to read. Because of that, when I meet people who like them, we have so much to talk about! By Nick Harkaway Books Heart Entertain Read Written

Google says young people don't care about privacy, but when asked if they'd let their parents see their phone bills and other stuff they say no. By Nick Harkaway Google Privacy Young People Care

The mainstream of literary culture in the U.K. is very averse to writing about technology. By Nick Harkaway Technology Mainstream Literary Culture Averse

E-readers are uninspired. They're slabs of plastic with fiddly controls and display a badly-formatted, typographically impoverished rendering of a paper book. That's not the electronic book I want. I want a gorgeous physical object, with paper pages, that can transform into any story I choose, perfectly presented on the page. By Nick Harkaway Ereaders Uninspired Book Paper Badlyformatted

I wanted a pseudonym partly because I'm quite shy and private. I know that sounds ludicrous, but if I should be lucky enough to make a hit, I wanted to be able to shrug off the mantel of Nick Harkaway when I got home. By Nick Harkaway Wanted Private Pseudonym Partly Shy

There was a small, quiet moment, the kind you just have time to notice, which makes you feel sad for no good reason. By Nick Harkaway Small Quiet Moment Notice Reason

I am Nemesis, meting out just deserts By Nick Harkaway Nemesis Meting Deserts

To my irritation, you still can't flick through an ebook properly; you can't riffle the pages, you can't look at more than one page at once. By Nick Harkaway Irritation Properly Flick Ebook Riffle

Thus Gonzo, incendiarist and leader of men. By Nick Harkaway Gonzo Incendiarist Men Leader

Because for Gonzo, anything which may explode at any moment is clearly a girl. By Nick Harkaway Gonzo Girl Explode Moment

When the time comes to work, I work. By Nick Harkaway Work Time

The reason steampunk attracts people is that it is premised on a technology which is visible and pleasing to the naked eye, and whose moving parts are comprehensible on a human scale. By Nick Harkaway Eye Scale Reason Steampunk Attracts

That's probably why she has added the two severed heads to the uprights of the throne. They lend her an undeniable air of not screwing around. By Nick Harkaway Throne Added Severed Heads Uprights

I'm an irredeemable urbanite. I can't imagine living more than a five-minute walk from my fellow human beings. Other people are vital to my peace of mind. By Nick Harkaway Urbanite Irredeemable Mind Imagine Living

A warsheep would be a cross between a dolphin and a small, limber elephant. By Nick Harkaway Small Limber Elephant Warsheep Cross

There is not now, nor I suspect will there ever be, a le Carre novel with ninjas in it. Most serious novelists are wary of including ninjas in their writing. That's a shame, because many much-admired works of modern fiction could benefit from a few. By Nick Harkaway Carre Ninjas Suspect Writing Shame

I'm usually reading too many books - in fact, I'm usually reading enough books that if the stack fell on me, I'd be injured. By Nick Harkaway Reading Fact Injured Books Stack

Dead like slipped on a bar of soap or like Colonel Mustard in the library with the lead piping? By Nick Harkaway Colonel Mustard Dead Piping Slipped

He'd never prove it, and if he did there'd be nothing he could do about it. But it would be true, and that was something. By Nick Harkaway Prove True

We need to create the institutions that will support the society we want to live in. The only answer is collective action. By Nick Harkaway Create Institutions Support Society Live

Steampunk appeals to the idea of uniqueness, to the one-off item, while every mainstream consumer technology of recent years is about putting human beings into ever more granular, packageable and mass-produced identities so that they can be sold or sold to, perfectly mapped and understood. By Nick Harkaway Sold Steampunk Uniqueness Item Granular

My wife runs the charity Reprieve, and so rendition, droning, and capital punishment are very much the topics of our dinner table because of that. By Nick Harkaway Droning Reprieve Rendition Wife Runs

The Brit abroad is always the voice of caution. Persons of other cultures are known to be undisciplined, prone to leaning out of car windows and cooking with garlic. By Nick Harkaway Brit Caution Abroad Voice Persons

An ugly calm lay over the streets like the anticipation of a beating. By Nick Harkaway Beating Ugly Calm Lay Streets

Bollocks to should. By Nick Harkaway Bollocks

Are you addicted if there is simply no reason for you to do anything else? By Nick Harkaway Addicted Simply Reason

Prize lists are out, and you're not on them? Nature of the world - means nothing. Prizes are a lottery. By Nick Harkaway Lists Prize Prizes Nature World

This is the world, he thought. And I am in it. By Nick Harkaway World Thought

What will you tell him?""The truth."Fortismer thinks about that."Yes," he says at last. "Probably the best thing. Bloody deceptive, honesty. By Nick Harkaway Fortismer Truth That Honesty Thing

I don't do a lot of research, exactly, but I'm constantly wandering through the world finding things incredible and remembering them. By Nick Harkaway Research Lot Constantly Wandering World

Amazon is a corporation, not a philanthropic trust dedicated to the production of works of art and literature. By Nick Harkaway Amazon Corporation Literature Philanthropic Trust

Digitisation was supposed to lead to a great democratisation of access to creative work. By Nick Harkaway Digitisation Work Supposed Lead Great

I want a politics that doesn't need to pretend to be holy or perfect or infallible. I want a politics that gets on with it. By Nick Harkaway Politics Infallible Pretend Holy Perfect

Performance is hard. I know this. I really enjoy it, but I have bombed, I have fluffed, and I have said the wrong thing. By Nick Harkaway Performance Hard Bombed Fluffed Thing

An enormous amount of a writer's life is performance. I find myself wondering, at the moment, whether I do too much of it. By Nick Harkaway Performance Enormous Amount Writer Life

In a lot of places, of course, the '80s had never really come to an end. By Nick Harkaway Places End Lot

I studied revolutions at university, and I think each revolution must begin with a moment of 'no.' If enough people have that moment at the same time, it becomes a movement. By Nick Harkaway University Moment Studied Begin Revolutions

The First World War was a horror of gas, industrialised slaughter, fear, and appalling human suffering. By Nick Harkaway Fear World War Gas Industrialised

Joe is never sure whether they're mad or just alarmingly and uncompromisingly incapable of self-delusion. By Nick Harkaway Joe Selfdelusion Mad Alarmingly Uncompromisingly

The trouble with shooting people, Edie Banister now remembers, is that it's so hard to do just one. By Nick Harkaway Edie Banister People Remembers Trouble

I'm a white, middle-aged, married, middle-class male with kids. I couldn't be disenfranchised if I tried. By Nick Harkaway Middleaged Married White Middleclass Kids

Her eyes are very bright. She loves senses, loves the world. He finds that ... admirable, and a bit daunting. I am a mole. I am hiding, in the company of a woman who adores the sunlight and the rain. By Nick Harkaway Bright Eyes Loves Senses World

Joshua Joseph has no great hatred of modern technologyhe just mistrusts the effortless, textureless surfaces and the ease with which it trains you to do things in the way most convenient to the machine. By Nick Harkaway Joseph Joshua Effortless Textureless Machine

Amazon makes money differently from a conventional publisher. It is an infrastructure player. By Nick Harkaway Amazon Publisher Makes Money Differently

The great thing is to have been surrounded by stories all my life. By Nick Harkaway Life Great Thing Surrounded Stories

In abandoning the understanding that things - services, goods, wars, and houses - have costs, we risk becoming infantilised, incapable of making decisions about government or finance, and perhaps above all about the environment, the wellbeing of the planet upon which we depend and which our children will inherit from us. By Nick Harkaway Services Goods Wars Things Houses

I'm really sorry I ate your dog. By Nick Harkaway Dog Ate

My reading of history is that we continually inherit trouble. By Nick Harkaway Trouble Reading History Continually Inherit

We need to differentiate between commercial piracy - where criminal organisations produce illicit DVDs on a huge scale - and domestic, unauthorised filesharing, which may or may not be detrimental to overall sales. By Nick Harkaway Piracy Scale Domestic Unauthorised Filesharing

All my characters are me, in one way or another. By Nick Harkaway Characters

Peace is not a state - it is a choice, and you have to remake it every day. It's possible to get a sort of stability, a habit of peace, but it's like an egg balanced, spinning, on its point: lose your momentum, and your equilibrium is gone, too. By Nick Harkaway State Choice Day Peace Remake

Suddenly, the idea of writing a book was like coming home. I didn't tell anyone except my wife, Clare. I just began. By Nick Harkaway Suddenly Clare Home Idea Writing

In a social context, digital technology introduces you to neighbours of the mind - people who are separated by distance, but close to you in thought and interest. By Nick Harkaway Context Digital Mind People Distance

He wondered if he should try to talk to the boy like that. Perhaps the boy wondered why he didn't. But they had silence, and not many people had that. By Nick Harkaway Boy Wondered Talk Silence People

Google's library plan was staggering and exciting - it wasn't the idea I objected to, but the method. By Nick Harkaway Google Exciting Method Library Plan