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The lack of alternatives to an illegal action does not legitimise that action.

Zadie Smith

I often worry that my idea of personhood is nostalgic, irrational, inaccurate.
ZADIE SMITH

Idea Nostalgic Worry
The lack of alternatives to an illegal action does not legitimise that action.
ZADIE SMITH

Action Alternatives Lack
The young people have a phrase for this now, which is “slay in your lane.” That’s a very important principle of writing. You have to work out what it is you can’t do, obscure it, and focus on what works.
ZADIE SMITH

Out People Work Writing
Today, writing seems to me like an incredible luxury, almost a perversity, something which hardly exists in the world anymore, where you get to see the fruits of your actions in a daily way.
ZADIE SMITH

Incredible Luxury World Writing
Cambridge was a joy. Tediously. People reading books in a posh place. It was my fantasy. I loved it. I miss it still.
ZADIE SMITH

Book People Reading
The library was the place I went to find out what there was to know. It was absolutely essential.
ZADIE SMITH

Absolutely Essential Library
Make sure the lubricant is unscented. Don’t join fashionable ‘schools of thought.’ Read everything.
ZADIE SMITH

Fashionable Lubricant School
I recognize myself to be an intensely naive person. Most novelists are, despite frequent pretensions to deep socio-political insight.
ZADIE SMITH

Insight Novelist Political
I am the sole author of the dictionary that defines me.
ZADIE SMITH

Author Define Dictionary Sole
Don’t confuse honours with achievement.
ZADIE SMITH

Achievement Confuse Honour
Full stories are as rare as honesty.
ZADIE SMITH

Coverage Emotion Full Honesty Story
Rarely does one see a squirrel tremble.
ZADIE SMITH

Rarely Squirrels Tremble
The greatest lie ever told about love is that it sets you free.
ZADIE SMITH

Country Love Lying People
You can feel bad… I mean, that’s not illegal.
ZADIE SMITH

Bad Feel Illegal Mean
I cannot believe homosexuality is that much fun. Heterosexuality certainly is not.
ZADIE SMITH

Belief Fun Heterosexuality
Something in me was changed by Lincoln in the Bardo, and the great sublime/grotesque risk of [George Saunders’] ghosts was a part of it.
ZADIE SMITH

Ghost Risk Sublime

The lack of alternatives to an illegal action does not legitimise that action.

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The lack of alternatives to an illegal action does not legitimise that action.

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Popular Authors

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