Well-run libraries are filled with people because what a good library offers cannot be easily found elsewhere: an indoor public space in which you do not have to buy anything in order to stay. Zadie Smith buyeasilyfill Change image and share on social
A lot of women, when they're young, feel they have very good friends, and find later on that friendship is complicated. It's easy to be friends when everyone's 18. Zadie Smith complicateeasyfeel Change image and share on social
I recognize myself to be an intensely naive person. Most novelists are, despite frequent pretensions to deep socio-political insight. Zadie Smith deepfrequentinsight Change image and share on social
I wrote 'White Teeth' in the late nineties. I didn't really feel trepidatious about it. It was a different time. Zadie Smith feellateninety Change image and share on social
Cambridge was a joy. Tediously. People reading books in a posh place. It was my fantasy. I loved it. I miss it still. Zadie Smith bookcambridgefantasy Change image and share on social
The conflation of the simple in style with the morally prescriptive in character, and the complex in style with the amoral or anarchic in character, seems to me one of the most persistently fallacious beliefs held by English students. Zadie Smith amoralanarchicbelief share on social
I wouldn't write about people who are living and who are close to me, because I think it's a very violent thing to do to another person. And anytime I have done it, even in the disguise of fiction, the results have been horrific. Zadie Smith anytimeclosedisguise share on social
Any artist who aligns themselves with a politician is making a category error because what politicians do is not on a human scale, it is on a geopolitical scale. Zadie Smith alignartistcategory Change image and share on social
English, as a subject, never really got over its upstart nature. It tries to bulk itself up with hopeless jargon and specious complexity, tries to imitate subjects it can never be. Zadie Smith bulkcomplexityenglish Change image and share on social
Without the balancing context of everyday life, all you have is the news, and news by its nature is generally bad. Zadie Smith badbalancecontext Change image and share on social
