I love short stories, but I’ve never had the impulse to write one. Same for ghost stories. John Lanchester Read Quote
It seems to me obviously axiomatic that markets are not magical, that they’re organised in a range of regulated entities created by men. We decide in what we will have markets, and we decide how the rules work and how they’ll conduct themselves. John Lanchester Read Quote
A preoccupation with money and, especially, with what money meant was, in our family, an inherited thing. My father’s father, Jack, who died before I was born, was very much possessed by the idea that money was freedom. John Lanchester Read Quote
We don’t want to think about money in an ideal life; in a well-lived life, money wouldn’t be one of our primary concerns, and we prefer to adopt the ostrich position. John Lanchester Read Quote
My standard Nando’s order is a chicken breast burger served ‘medium,’ which is still fairly spicy. John Lanchester Read Quote
Germany has to put the broader European interest on the same level as its own national interest, or the euro is toast. John Lanchester Read Quote
To make three films out of one shortish book, they have to turn it into an epic, just as ‘Lord of the Rings’ is an epic. But ‘The Hobbit’ isn’t an epic: its tone is intimate and personal, and although it’s full of adventures and excitement, they’re on a different scale to those of the bigger book. John Lanchester Read Quote
Dad was a very, very principled man, and he hated any kind of story where the baddies get away with it. John Lanchester Read Quote
Most British tapas bars aren’t bars at all. They’re restaurants that specialise in tapas. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s a bit different from the Spanish way of doing things, in which tapas is an adjunct to the drinks and the general vibe. John Lanchester Read Quote
You can’t explain collateralized debt obligation in a novel – it’s too draggy. John Lanchester Read Quote
