Famous Julian Barnes Quotes

  • What you end up remembering isn’t always the same as what you have witnessed. – Julian Barnes

    What you end up remembering isn’t always the same as what you have witnessed.– Julian Barnes

  • The final tormenting, unanswerable question: what is ‘success’ in mourning? – Julian Barnes

    The final tormenting, unanswerable question: what is ‘success’ in mourning?– Julian Barnes

  • There is a grotesquerie to grief as well. You lose the sense of your existence being rational, or justifiable. You feel absurd. – Julian Barnes

    There is a grotesquerie to grief as well. You lose the sense of your existence being rational, or justifiable. You feel absurd.– Julian Barnes

  • Throw off your grief,’ doubters imply, ‘and we can all go back to pretending death doesn’t exist, or at least is comfortably far away. – Julian Barnes

    Throw off your grief,’ doubters imply, ‘and we can all go back to pretending death doesn’t exist, or at least is comfortably far away.– Julian Barnes

  • Of course, there were other sorts of literature — theoretical, self-referencial, lachrymosely autobiographical — but they were just dry wanks. – Julian Barnes

    Of course, there were other sorts of literature — theoretical, self-referencial, lachrymosely autobiographical — but they were just dry wanks.– Julian Barnes

  • What was the point of having a situation worthy of fiction if the protagonist didn’t behave as he would have done in a book? – Julian Barnes

    What was the point of having a situation worthy of fiction if the protagonist didn’t behave as he would have done in a book?– Julian Barnes

  • you find yourself repeating, -˜They grow up so quickly, don’t they?’ when all you really mean is: time goes faster for me nowadays. – Julian Barnes

    you find yourself repeating, -˜They grow up so quickly, don’t they?’ when all you really mean is: time goes faster for me nowadays.– Julian Barnes

  • Love is just a system for getting someone to call you Darling after sex. – Julian Barnes

    Love is just a system for getting someone to call you Darling after sex.– Julian Barnes

  • You can deal with the brain, as I say; it looks sensible, whereas the heart, the human heart, I’m afraid, looks a ????ing mess. – Julian Barnes

    You can deal with the brain, as I say; it looks sensible, whereas the heart, the human heart, I’m afraid, looks a ????ing mess.– Julian Barnes

  • Music escapes from words: that is its purpose, and its majesty. – Julian Barnes

    Music escapes from words: that is its purpose, and its majesty.– Julian Barnes