Quotes from Nick Hornby

She had come out tonight because she believed there had to be a present tense, somewhere, and she'd followed Gav and Barnesy because she'd hoped they knew where it was. Is. And they'd dragged her to yet another haunted house. Where was the now? In bloody America, probably, apart from the bit that Tucker lived in, or in bloody Tokyo. In any case, it was somewhere else. How could people who didn't live in bloody America or bloody Tokyo stand it, all that swimming around in the past imperfect?

I am a rationalist, and I don't believe in genies, or sudden personality changes. I wanted David's anger to vanish only after years and years in therapy.

Defeated misery is what all sport is about, eventually, if you follow the story for long enough; all sportsmen know this.

I wanted to hurt her, on this day of all days, just because it's the first time since she left that I've been able to.

He had to say that the thing he found most attractive about her was that she had tried to kill herself. Now that was interesting-- sexy, almost, in a morbid kind of way.

It was easy to be nice to an attractive woman over a dinner table. The despair came later, with children and tiredness and the sheer drudgery of marriage and monogamy.

And what are we saying, anyway? That only old money is allowed to buy success? Isn't that a little like telling Noel and Liam Gallagher that they aren't allowed to make anything of themselves because they didn't go to Eton?

She sat down next to him, took one of his cigarettes, listened to his apologies. He was distraught, of course: he was just the kind of idiot who could only understand what things meant by doing them first.

I had discovered after the Swindon game that loyalty, at least in football terms, was not a moral choice like bravery or kindness; it was more like a wart or a hump, something you were stuck with.

Ken didn't die for your benefit, you know. It's like everyone's a supporting actor in the flm of your life story. Of course. Isn't that how it works for everybody?

I personally find that for domestic purposes, the Trivial Pursuit system works better than Dewey.

What better way to exorcise rejection demons than to screw the person who rejected you?

he's lonely, and lonely people are the bitterest of them all.

One can only presume that people who say that their favorite record of all time reminds them of their honeymoon in Corsica, or of their family Chihuahua, don't actually like music very much.

It seems to make a difference to some girls. If you say something that isn't sexist to the right sort ofgirl, she likes you more. Say one of your mates is going on about how all girls are stupid, and you say 'not all girls are stupid,' then it can make you look good. There have to be girls listening, though, obviously. Otherwise it's a waste of time.

How can that not leave you bruised somewhere? How can that not turn you into the sort of person liable to break into little bits when your first love goes all wrong? What came first, the music or the misery? Did I listen to music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to music? Do all those records turn you into a melancholy person?

I'm thinking: am I supposed to fight, and what do I fight with, and whom am I fighting?

Passion was a part of being human.

Experience, then, was something that enabled you to do nothing with a clear conscience. Experience was an overrated quality.

Did you know that Jacques Benveniste, one of the world's leading homeopathic scientists, now claims that you can *email* homeopathic remedies? Yeah, see, what you do is you can take the memory of the diluted substance out of the water electromagnetically, put it on your computer, email it, and play it back on a sound card into new water. I mean, that could work, right? (Nick's thoughts after reading Francis Wheen's book How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World)

The difference between sex with David and sex with Stephen is like the difference between science and art. With Stephen it's all empathy and imagination and exploration and the shock of the new, and the outcome is... uncertain, if you know what I mean. I'm engaged by it, but I', mot necessarily sure what its all about. David, on the other hand, presses this button, then that one, and bingo! It's like operating a lift - just as romantic, but actually just as useful.

She regretted the explanation immediately, but that was because she always regretted everything. And then, after the regret had flared and burned out, she didn't care. He should know, she thought. She wanted him to know. She felt something for somebody, and she'd told him.

I can live this life. I can. I can. It's a spark I want to cherish, a splutter of life in the flat battery; but just at the wrong moment I catch a glimpse at the night sky..., and I can see that there's nothing out there at all.

We hate Simple Minds. They were no.1 in our Top Five Bands or Musicians who will have to be shot come the musical revolution (Michael Bolton, U2, Bryan Adams, and, surprise surprise, Genesis were tucked in behind them. Berry wanted to shoot The Beatles, but I pointed out that someone had already done it.