Quotes About Uncertainty

I might just write a novel next. I don't know!

When I start writing a novel, I have no sense of direction, no idea, really nothing.

No one knows how to write a novel until it's been written.

You no longer have much in the way of knowing what to do in a big, epic novel about the future, because nobody knows what the hell is going to happen.

I never know as a writer when I set out into a novel where it's going to take me.

Novelists are no more moral or certain than anybody else; we are ideologically adrift, and if we are any good then our writing will live in several places at once. That is both our curse and our charm.

There's a sense in all my novels that nothing is certain.

I write novels because there is something I don't understand in reality.

My birthday is in November, so I think I'm a Scorpio? I'm not even sure!

Brexit is really a good forerunner of what's going to happen here in November, I think. The same angst that drove that vote is driving the American election.

If a gig goes badly, my main worry is, 'Will these people come back?' Because that will affect my ability to pay the mortgage - but nowadays, I don't really mind what happens, as I think if it all goes wrong for real, you still have to go with it.

In war time, nowhere is safe.

Tumours can come out of nowhere.

Many filmmakers have had that experience. They make a movie, then out of nowhere, they either pass censorship or fail.

I have a little hope that the nuclear holocaust doesn't happen.

I can't really worry about nuclear war any more than I can worry about the aliens coming.

I had no clue what I wanted to do. I tried nursing, I tried science, I tried English. I just kept bouncing back and forth.

You can't even look outside because everything's so crazy, especially in America. And I live in Detroit! There's the economy, and the fact you can't even open your door any more without going nuts.

You never know when your last day gig is, and if you spend your life thinking about it, you'll drive yourself nuts. But I try not to foster or exhibit any desperation.

I'm really bad at knowing if something I've done is any good. I can't work it out; I can't be objective about anything I do.

My only obligation is to keep myself and other people guessing.

I'm deeply insecure. I ask my wife all the time, 'Was that OK? Are people lying?' I'm not as happily oblivious as I'd like.

The 20-year-old version of me had all this energy, and wanted to be obnoxious with his art and wanted to communicate even though he didn't know what he wanted to communicate.

I give everything to my work, and I like complex roles, characters that aren't obvious. I've been very lucky so far, and I'm dreaming of working with directors like Jane Campion, Susanne Bier and the Dardennes. But the gods will decide.