Geoff Dyer

I think I got into travelling because it was so not in my blood, so against my tendency to just stay put because my dad just hated going on holidays, because, as I've said in many essays, the thing that he hated more than anything else in life was spending money. And as soon as you leave your home, you're spending money. ”

Despite what Wordsworth says about thoughts that 'lie too deep for tears', I think tears are a pretty reliable indication of being in the grips of a profound experience. ”

It's funny, because people always say when they meet me, having read me - or they read me, having met me - that they are struck by how the tone is pretty similar, in real life and in the books. ”

It's one of these things that I've been struck by for so long about America. You know, this amazing politeness of American life that's not at all class specific. It's not like people get more polite as ascend the hierarchy of society. Just incredible good manners. It's always been something that I've noticed. ”

What I've really liked doing is combining what you might call art criticism or music criticism with something that is happening in real life. ”

Earnest people are always a bit on the thick side in my experience. ”

While writing, I'm always so happy in the middle of a book or finishing a book and really hate starting them, so I often think, 'I wish I had a really big book to write to which I could devote seven years of my life.' ”

The business of taking a book and transforming into a script to make this thing called a film - it's a mysterious process to me; sometimes it works. ”

People never read my books for the quality of the documentary value. ”

I like things that are funny and have a lot else in them besides that - ideas, for example. ”