|

|

Advertisements

Alan Furst Quotes

You have to have heart’s passion to write a novel Picture Quote #1

A book must have moral purpose to be any good. Why, I don’t know Picture Quote #1

Let me put it this way: I don’t plan to retire. What would I do, become a brain surgeon? I mean, a brain surgeon can retire and write novels, but a novelist can’t retire and do brain surgery - or at least he better not Picture Quote #1

It takes me three months of research and nine months of work to produce a book. When I start writing, I do two pages a day; if I’m gonna do 320, that’s 160 days Picture Quote #1

When you move a border, suddenly life changes violently. I write about nationality Picture Quote #1

Fast-paced from start to finish, ‘The Honourable Schoolboy’ is fired by le Carre’s conviction regarding evil done and its consequences Picture Quote #1

Advertisements

I spend my life writing fiction, so reading fiction isn’t much of an escape. That’s not always true, but I don’t read much contemporary fiction Picture Quote #1

I had the experience of a monk copying documents, applying myself assiduously to my work. And I thought whatever happened, happened - this is just what I do in my life Picture Quote #1

You could be a victim, you could be a hero, you could be a villain, or you could be a fugitive. But you could not just stand by. If you were in Europe between 1933 and 1945, you had to be something Picture Quote #1

Women take great care of themselves in France. It’s a culture dedicated to making women beautiful and to manners Picture Quote #1

If you read the history of the national Socialist party, they’re all people who felt like life should have been better to them. They’re disappointed, vengeful, angry Picture Quote #1

I’ve never lived in Eastern Europe, although both my wife and I have ancestors in Poland and Russia - but I can see the scenes I create Picture Quote #1

Advertisements

I’d never been in a police state. I didn’t know what it was. I knew that it was, in the general way that people know that two and two is four, but it had no emotional value for me until I found myself in the middle of it Picture Quote #1

I’ve evolved in my writing to tell a more emotional story - my publisher, Random House, has urged that Picture Quote #1

I never got any training in how to write novels as an English major at Oberlin, but I got some great training for writing novels from anthropology and from Margaret Mead Picture Quote #1

I write about the period 1933-42, and I read books written during those years: books by foreign correspondents of the time, histories of the time written contemporaneously or just afterwards, autobiographies and biographies of people who were there, present-day histories of the period, and novels written during those times Picture Quote #1

I have a very serious censorship office inside my head; it censors things that I could tell you that you would never forget, and I don’t want to be the person to stick that in your brain Picture Quote #1

French women will always look up at a man, even if he is four inches shorter than she is Picture Quote #1

Advertisements

For John le Carre, it was always who’s betraying who: the hall-of-mirrors kind of thing. When you go back to the 30s, it’s a case of good vs. evil, and no kidding. When I have a hero who believes France and Britain are on the right side, a reader is not going to question that Picture Quote #1

When I read period material - and it ain’t on Google - I am always alert for that one incredible detail. I’ll read a whole book and get three words out of it, but they’ll be three really good words Picture Quote #1

When I get asked about novelists I like, they tend to be white, male, and British, like Graham Greene. They write the kind of declarative sentences I like. I don’t like to be deflected by acrobatics Picture Quote #1

Graham Greene’s work must be included in any survey of top-rank spy novels, and ‘Our Man in Havana’ may be his best Picture Quote #1

The only way you can handle big kinds of questions is to simply state briefly what the truth was. What am I going to tell you about the Holocaust? Would you like three pages about it? I don’t think you would... I don’t think anything different than you think - it was horrible Picture Quote #1

I am there to entertain. I call my work high escape fiction; it’s high, it’s good - but it’s escape, and I have no delusions about that. I have no ambition to be a serious writer, whatever that means Picture Quote #1

Advertisements

What I discovered is I don’t like to repeat lead characters because one of the most pleasurable things in a book to me is learning about the lead Picture Quote #1

Live today, for tomorrow we die Picture Quote #1

And, with much of Europe occupied by Nazi Germany, and Mussolini’s armies in Albania, on the Greek frontier, one wasn’t sure what came next. So, don’t trust the telephone. Or the newspapers. Or the radio. Or tomorrow Picture Quote #1

My novels are about the European reality, not about chases. You want chases, get somebody else’s books Picture Quote #1

I expect that my readers have been to Europe, I expect them to have some feeling for a foreign language, I expect them to have read books - there are a lot of people like that! That’s my audience Picture Quote #1

My grandmother, whom I adored, and who partly raised me, loved Liberace, and she watched Liberace every afternoon, and when she watched Liberace, she’d get dressed up and put on makeup because I think she thought if she could see Liberace, Liberace could see her Picture Quote #1

1 2

Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

Advertisements

Text Quotes

You have to have heart’s passion to write a novel (Alan Furst Quotes) A book must have moral purpose to be any good. Why, I don’t know. (Alan Furst Quotes) Let me put it this way: I don’t plan to retire. What would I do, become a brain surgeon? I mean, a brain surgeon can retire and write novels, but a novelist can’t retire and do brain surgery - or at least he better not. (Alan Furst Quotes) It takes me three months of research and nine months of work to produce a book. When I start writing, I do two pages a day; if I’m gonna do 320, that’s 160 days. (Alan Furst Quotes) When you move a border, suddenly life changes violently. I write about nationality. (Alan Furst Quotes) Fast-paced from start to finish, ‘The Honourable Schoolboy’ is fired by le Carre’s conviction regarding evil done and its consequences. (Alan Furst Quotes) I spend my life writing fiction, so reading fiction isn’t much of an escape. That’s not always true, but I don’t read much contemporary fiction. (Alan Furst Quotes) I had the experience of a monk copying documents, applying myself assiduously to my work. And I thought whatever happened, happened - this is just what I do in my life. (Alan Furst Quotes) You could be a victim, you could be a hero, you could be a villain, or you could be a fugitive. But you could not just stand by. If you were in Europe between 1933 and 1945, you had to be something. (Alan Furst Quotes) Women take great care of themselves in France. It’s a culture dedicated to making women beautiful and to manners. (Alan Furst Quotes) If you read the history of the national Socialist party, they’re all people who felt like life should have been better to them. They’re disappointed, vengeful, angry. (Alan Furst Quotes) I’ve never lived in Eastern Europe, although both my wife and I have ancestors in Poland and Russia - but I can see the scenes I create. (Alan Furst Quotes) I’d never been in a police state. I didn’t know what it was. I knew that it was, in the general way that people know that two and two is four, but it had no emotional value for me until I found myself in the middle of it. (Alan Furst Quotes) I’ve evolved in my writing to tell a more emotional story - my publisher, Random House, has urged that. (Alan Furst Quotes) I never got any training in how to write novels as an English major at Oberlin, but I got some great training for writing novels from anthropology and from Margaret Mead. (Alan Furst Quotes) I write about the period 1933-42, and I read books written during those years: books by foreign correspondents of the time, histories of the time written contemporaneously or just afterwards, autobiographies and biographies of people who were there, present-day histories of the period, and novels written during those times. (Alan Furst Quotes) I have a very serious censorship office inside my head; it censors things that I could tell you that you would never forget, and I don’t want to be the person to stick that in your brain. (Alan Furst Quotes) French women will always look up at a man, even if he is four inches shorter than she is (Alan Furst Quotes) For John le Carre, it was always who’s betraying who: the hall-of-mirrors kind of thing. When you go back to the 30s, it’s a case of good vs. evil, and no kidding. When I have a hero who believes France and Britain are on the right side, a reader is not going to question that. (Alan Furst Quotes) When I read period material - and it ain’t on Google - I am always alert for that one incredible detail. I’ll read a whole book and get three words out of it, but they’ll be three really good words. (Alan Furst Quotes) When I get asked about novelists I like, they tend to be white, male, and British, like Graham Greene. They write the kind of declarative sentences I like. I don’t like to be deflected by acrobatics. (Alan Furst Quotes) Graham Greene’s work must be included in any survey of top-rank spy novels, and ‘Our Man in Havana’ may be his best. (Alan Furst Quotes) The only way you can handle big kinds of questions is to simply state briefly what the truth was. What am I going to tell you about the Holocaust? Would you like three pages about it? I don’t think you would... I don’t think anything different than you think - it was horrible. (Alan Furst Quotes) I am there to entertain. I call my work high escape fiction; it’s high, it’s good - but it’s escape, and I have no delusions about that. I have no ambition to be a serious writer, whatever that means. (Alan Furst Quotes) What I discovered is I don’t like to repeat lead characters because one of the most pleasurable things in a book to me is learning about the lead. (Alan Furst Quotes) Live today, for tomorrow we die (Alan Furst Quotes) And, with much of Europe occupied by Nazi Germany, and Mussolini’s armies in Albania, on the Greek frontier, one wasn’t sure what came next. So, don’t trust the telephone. Or the newspapers. Or the radio. Or tomorrow (Alan Furst Quotes) My novels are about the European reality, not about chases. You want chases, get somebody else’s books (Alan Furst Quotes) I expect that my readers have been to Europe, I expect them to have some feeling for a foreign language, I expect them to have read books - there are a lot of people like that! That’s my audience (Alan Furst Quotes) My grandmother, whom I adored, and who partly raised me, loved Liberace, and she watched Liberace every afternoon, and when she watched Liberace, she’d get dressed up and put on makeup because I think she thought if she could see Liberace, Liberace could see her. (Alan Furst Quotes)

1 2