Tom Greer > Tom's Quotes

“Never patronize your readers. That means don't talk down to them.”
― Tom Greer

“Do you ever make silly mistakes? It is one of my very few creative activities.”
― Len Deighton

“It seemed to him a very Edinburgh thing. Welcoming, but not very.”
― Ian Rankin, Exit Music

“There are worse forms of prostitution than whoring.
-Inspector John Rebus”
― Ian Rankin, Strip Jack

“He wondered what percentage of the world's art was actually kept in bank vaults and the like. Like unread books and unplayed music, did it matter that art went unseen?”
― Ian Rankin

“You need to read more science fiction. Nobody who reads science fiction comes out with this crap about the end of history”
― Iain Banks

“Empathize with stupidity and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot”
― Iain M. Banks

“Fuck every cause that ends in murder and children crying.”
― Iain M. Banks, Against a Dark Background

“I just think people overvalue argument because they like to hear themselves talk.”
― Iain M. Banks, Use of Weapons

“It's a library, only the stupid or the evil are afraid of those”
― Iain Banks

“The trouble with writing fiction is that it has to make sense, whereas real life doesn't.”
― Iain M. Banks

“Writing is like everything else: the more you do it the better you get. Don't try to perfect as you go along, just get to the end of the damn thing. Accept imperfections. Get it finished and then you can go back. If you try to polish every sentence there's a chance you'll never get past the first chapter.”
― Iain Banks

“There's an old Sysan saying that the soup of life is salty enough without adding tears to it.”
― Iain M. Banks, Look to Windward

“Learn the rules, break the rules, make up new rules, break the new rules.”
― Marvin Bell

“Like all intelligent people, I'm aware of just how little I know.”
― Tom Greer, An Expendable Spy

“What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable?”
― John Green, An Abundance of Katherines