Top Lionel Shriver Quotes - Quotesmemo.com

Lionel Shriver Biography

Lionel Shriver (born May 18, 1957) is an American journalist and author who lives in the United Kingdom. She is best known for her novel We Need to Talk About Kevin, which won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005 and was adapted into the 2011 film of the same name, starring Tilda Swinton.

Read about Lionel Shriver in Wikipedia

Random Authors

Lionel Shriver Quotes

That boy hardly needed a mask when his naked face was already impenetrable.

Already, Boys, Faces, Impenetrable, Naked

Many, if not most, countries blithely expect their citizens to have carte blanche access to the U. S. , "land of immigrants," as a veritable human right, but put up all manner of barriers to Americans who want to emigrate in the opposite direction.

Barriers, Blanche, Blithely, Citizens, Country

Not that happiness is dull. Only that it doesn't tell well. And of our consuming diversions as we age is to recite, not only to others but to ourselves, our own story.

Age, Dull, Recite, Stories, Tell

Funny how you dig yourself into a hole by the teaspoon.

Dig, Funny, Hole, Holes, Teaspoon, Teaspoons

We need to recognise that slowing population growth is one of the most cost-effective and reliable ways of easing pressure on our environment and securing a sustainable future for us all

Growth, Needs, Population, Reliable

You were always uncomfortable with the rhetoric of emotion, which is quite a different matter from discomfort with emotion itself.

Different, Emotion, Matter, Quite, Rhetoric, Uncomfortable

It is never persuasive to argue that you are not the kind of person who does what you are actually doing.

Actually, Argue, Arguing, Doe, Kind, Person

Kevin was a shell game in which all three cups were empty.

Cups, Empty, Games, Shells, Three

I thought at the time that I couldn't be horrified anymore, or wounded. I suppose that's a common conceit, that you've already been so damaged that damage itself, in its totality, makes you safe.

Common, Conceit, Damage, Horrified, Safe, Totality

One of my problems with terrorism is that it's self-evidently bad. The main thing that makes it complicated is the fact that it works. When you go at it with a moral hammer, it's really, really bad. It's so bad you wouldn't believe it because you don't accomplish anything. I think the one thing terrorists themselves are vulnerable to is mockery. It's an excellent weapon.

Believe, Thinking, Self, Moral, Mockery, Problems

It isn't very nice to admit, but domestic violence has its uses. So raw and unleashed, it tears away the veil of civilization that comes between us as much as it makes life possible. A poor substitute for the sort of passion we like to extol perhaps, but real love shares more in common with hatred and rage than it does with geniality or politeness.

Geniality, Nice, Passion, Possible, Real, Tears

In a country that doesn't discriminate between fame and infamy, the latter presents itself as plainly more achievable.

Country, Discriminate, Fame, Latter

You were ambitious - for your life, what it was like when you woke up in the morning, and not for some attainment. Like most people who did not answer a particular calling from an early age, you placed work beside yourself; any occupation would fill up your day but not your heart. I liked that about you. I liked it enormously.

Day, Heart, Morning, Occupation, People

Secrets bind and separate in strict accordance with who's in them.

Accordance, Bind, Secret, Separate, Strict

It was important to me to put together a future history that would scan, and serve as the backdrop to the domestic story. Economics is really what drives the plot.

Backdrop, Important, Plot, Scan, Together

In fact, it's become politically important to offend people, because we have to fight back against this notion that being offensive should be against the law or something, and that everyone supposedly deserves "respect" for their often dopy views.

Fighting, People, Important, Supposedly, Fight, Offensive

Notoriety is cheap. It's just easier to get noticed by doing something bad.

Bad, Easier, Noticed, Notoriety

Only a country that feels invulnerable can afford political turmoil as entertainment.

Country, Political, Entertainment, Turmoil, Afford, Feels

The only way my head was going truly somewhere else was to travel to a different life and not a different airport.

Airports, Different, Head, Somewhere Else, Travel, Way

Teachers were both blamed for everything that went wrong with kids and turned to for their every salvation. This dual role of scapegoat and savior was downright messianic but even Jesus was probably paid better.

Jesus, Kids, Savior, Teacher

1