Write something every single day, even if it's just three lines. And it doesn't matter if it's any good - just write something every day. David Mitchell daygoodline Change image and share on social
I'm from a time and place where bigheadedness was a really savage crime, and you'd get cut down for it by your peers and parents. David Mitchell bigheadednesscrimecut Change image and share on social
When you're out of your own cultural context you have conversations with yourself that you just don't have at any other point in your life. When you're in a hotel room on the border between India and Nepal you can really discover things about yourself. David Mitchell bordercontextconversation share on social
When I was about 14, in about 1984, I decided to become a great poet. Faber & Faber was going to publish me, and when Ted Hughes read my first anthology he would invite me to Yorkshire for meat pies and mentorship. David Mitchell anthologydecidefaber share on social
Loneliness is an integral part of travelling. I used to think it was the downside to travelling, but now I realise it is a necessary educative part of it to be embraced. David Mitchell downsideeducativeembrace Change image and share on social
Many children are natural fantasists, I think, perhaps because their imaginations have yet to be clobbered into submission by experience. David Mitchell childclobberexperience Change image and share on social
It's true that stammerers can become more adept at sentence construction. David Mitchell adeptconstructionsentence Change image and share on social
As long as our civilisation keeps trundling along generally forwards, then there is the possibility of a future where ethnicity is merely an interesting badge, not a uniform you can't take off. David Mitchell badgecivilisationethnicity Change image and share on social
Sometimes I think that creativity is a matter of seeing, or stumbling over, unobvious similarities between things - like composing a fresh metaphor, but on a more complex scale. David Mitchell complexcomposecreativity Change image and share on social
The art of the novelist is not unrelated to the illness of multiple personality disorder. It's a much milder form. But the better the book, the nearer to the padded cell you are. David Mitchell artbookcell Change image and share on social
