"He talked and talked, the kind of talking you do to stave off the inevitable physical desire. The kind of talk that only increases it."

Zadie Smith Literature See all quotes by Zadie Smith →

React to this quote

More by Zadie Smith

“But why do they always have to be laughing and making a song-and-dance about everything? I cannot believe homosexuality is that much fun. Heterosexuality certainly is not.”

“It was in the shady groves of dictionaries that Jack fell in love.”

“So we have to be a bit more, I mean, military about it, like plan.”

“Is there anything more likely to take the shine off an affair that when the lover strikes up a convivial relationship with the lovee's mother.”

“This is what divorce is: Taking things you no longer want from people you no longer love.”

“Ryan's freckles were a join-the-dot's enthusiast's wet dream.”

Resonant Thoughts

"As Al Franken has demonstrated, liberals give lousy talk radio."

— L. Neil Smith

Literature1946–2021

#kindness

"For there have been some people, otherwise good and holy, who saw that intemperance and luxury time and again drive man to throw off all restraints unless he is curbed by the utmost severity. And in t…"

— John Calvin

Religion

#time

"said that another round of wage increases such as there had been in the past two years could be disastrous. ... Such increases would not bring any benefit to anyone. They would only benefit men in a p…"

— Harold Macmillan

Politics1894–1986

#time

"One thing, however, did become clear to him – why so many perfect works of art did not please him at all, why they were almost hateful and boring to him, in spite of a certain undeniable beauty. Works…"

— Hermann Hesse

Literature1861–1948

#hope