A mountain you're plannin' on climbin' ain't the same as the one you ain't. It ain't so pretty.
David MitchellAs an experienced editor, I disapprove of flashbacks, foreshadowings, and tricksy devices; they belong in the 1980s with M.A.s in postmodernism and chaos theory.
David MitchellSecrets affect you more than youโd think. You lie to keep them hidden. You steer talk away from them. You worry someoneโll discover yours and tell the world. You think you are in charge of the secret, but isnโt it the secret whoโs actually using you?
David MitchellWords are very powerful and can lead anyone reading them or hearing them, into contemplation and insight. How the mind follows suit is rarely palpable or expected. This impact is not a matter of metaphysical effects nor of an unexplainable phenomenon. Itโs simply part of being human.
David MitchellFor white men, to live is to own, or to try to own more, or to die trying to own more. Their appetites are astonishing! They own wardrobes, slaves, carriages, houses, warehouses, and ships. They own ports, cities, plantations, valleys, mountains, chains of islands. They own this world, its jungles, its skies, and its seas. Yet they complain that Dejima is a prison. They complain they are not free.
David Mitchell