There is accumulation. There is responsibility. And beyond this there is great unrest.
Julian BarnesLoving humanity means as much, and as little, as loving raindrops, or loving the Milky Way. You say that you love humanity? Are you sure you arenโt treating yourself to easy self-congratulation, seeking approval, making certain youโre on the right side?
Julian BarnesWe live with such easy assumptions, don't we? For instance, that memory equals events plus time. But it's all much odder than this. Who was it said that memory is what we thought we'd forgotten? And it ought to be obvious to us that time doesn't act as a fixative, rather as a solvent. But it's not convenient--- it's not useful--- to believe this; it doesn't help us get on with our lives; so we ignore it.
Julian BarnesPoets seem to write more easily about love than prose writers. For a start, they own that flexible โIโโฆ. Then again, poets seem able to turn bad love โ selfish, shitty love โ into good love poetry. Prose writers lack this power of admirable, dishonest transformation. We can only turn bad love into prose about bad love. So we are envious (and slightly distrustful) when poets talk to us of love.
Julian Barnes