All Quotes

I really believe in the idea of the future. ”

It's very important that historic cities are allowed to reinvent their future. ”

My generation were all careerists. ”

I find industrial cities exciting. I like their toughness. ”

I have been interested in fashion since I was a kid. Then I lived in London, where it was more about costume and a personal statement of who you are than about fashion. ”

My father was a politician, and a very important politician, and one of the leaders of the Iraqi Democratic Party, who believed in progress. ”

English fiction was something I loved growing up, and it changed my life - it changed the trajectory of my life. ”

I recognize myself to be an intensely naive person. Most novelists are, despite frequent pretensions to deep socio-political insight. ”

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. ”

I have an ambition to write a great book, but that's really a competition with myself. I've noticed that a lot of young writers, people in all media, want to be famous but they don't really want to do anything. I can't think of anything less worth striving for than fame. ”