Top 93 Quotes by Zadie Smith

Women often have a great need to portray themselves as sympathetic and pleasing, but we're also dark people with dark thoughts.

I'm always a bit suspicious of writers who have the gift of the gab.

Don't romanticise your 'vocation.' You can either write good sentences or you can't. There is no 'writer's lifestyle.' All that matters is what you leave on the page.

Young people understand the world. They should be listened to on matters of politics and world organization. But they know nothing of their own lives.

When I think of the books I love, there's always a little laughter in the dark.

Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand - but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied.

We cannot be all the writers all the time. We can only be who we are.

Without the balancing context of everyday life, all you have is the news, and news by its nature is generally bad.

One thing you can't intend is how you will be read. I hear it said a lot that my books are about the 'search for identity', and this is said admiringly, as if I meant to encourage such a search.

Your mid-thirties is a good time because you know a fair amount, you have some self-control.