Tibor Fischer Quotes & Sayings

As an author, I realise, you're on your own. You have to do everything you can to help The Book. If I make sure people know it's out there, they can make up their own minds whether they want to read it. — Tibor Fischer

Few pleasures are greater than knowing you can close your door, ignore the world and create your own. — Tibor Fischer

New York City has fantastic restaurants and, unlike London, a lot of the best restaurants are relatively cheap. — Tibor Fischer

The greatest danger of being gifted, is that you may never learn how to make an effort. — Tibor Fischer

One of my proudest achievements is that when an authoritative book about Hungarian literature came out about a decade ago, there was a little article about me which said I was a Hungarian writer but pretending not to be. Bearing in mind I can hardly write a cheque in Hungarian, I was delighted to be included in the pantheon of Hungarian writers. — Tibor Fischer

Perfection is only chance. — Tibor Fischer

No amount of intelligence can save you from stupidity. — Tibor Fischer

I'm not the most prolific writer in the world, and, sadly, writing a novel involves a lot of effort. — Tibor Fischer

Some years ago, I fired my agent, Andrew Wylie, alias The Jackal. I want to stress this wasn't an amicable parting of the ways or a hankering on my part for fresh representation. I fired him because his agency wasn't doing enough for me. — Tibor Fischer

Opening the fridge door, I found a rat eating the cheese. My dealings with rodents, particularly those tagged verminous, have been few, but generally the pattern has been one of man, the boss, the caretaker of creation, the namer, appearing and the lower orders hitting the road. — Tibor Fischer

It's true, some senior Hungarian writers are not known for their laughter. There is a strong Germanic influence - an attitude that if it's enjoyable it can't possibly be literature. — Tibor Fischer

It's like training dogs. You want the dog to obey you, but you can't have real respect for a dog that always obeys you. You want a dog that occasionally goes over the wall or bites the postman without your permission; you want to be reminded that you command a subdued yet wild animal, not a crawler. A man should be strong enough to kill you with his bare hands. — Tibor Fischer

The way British publishing works is that you go from not being published no matter how good you are, to being published no matter how bad you are. — Tibor Fischer

Most books reviews aren't very well-written. They tend to be more about the reviewer than the book. — Tibor Fischer

I don't take much notice of reviews now - obviously you'd like to have straight worship but you're never going to get that. — Tibor Fischer

Gyuri had dropped church much in the same way he had stopped believing in Santa Claus; there came a point where it was impossible to take it seriously. — Tibor Fischer

Why is erasing desire seen as so important? If the subjugation of the self is the point of the self what's the point in having a self? It's like someone handing you a leaflet which says throw this leaflet away. — Tibor Fischer

Laziness always wins. — Tibor Fischer

A public role endures for the literary high-command, as sages and seers, speaking out on social and political issues. — Tibor Fischer

There's prejudice and poverty in Hungary as there is in every country. — Tibor Fischer

Book-writing is always much easier in other people's lives. — Tibor Fischer

I went to a British Council event a while back and there were lots of German professors of literature. About half of them were convinced I had a German sense of humour and the other half were sure it was British. They are probably still arguing about it now. — Tibor Fischer

The big question is why do we need the news? People who don't know who's in goverment still want the news. Is it because listening to the news allows us to have opinions? Is it because it gives us something to talk about, the human weather? Most readers who put down a paper certainly feel qualified to rule the world. — Tibor Fischer

Criticism is part of being in the marketplace. If you can't take a bit of criticism, you shouldn't bother publishing a book. — Tibor Fischer

I always consider every place worth exploring once- just in case there's a thirty foot flaming sign divulging the secret of life, that no one has told me about. — Tibor Fischer

Once you've been backstage at a theater, the theater is never the same for you. Once you've noticed the crack in the vase, the vase is never the same for. Once you've seen a friend do something appalling, the friendship is never the same. That does not mean you won't go to the theater, or keep the vase or the friend. You can choose. — Tibor Fischer

It's what the reader thinks that counts. — Tibor Fischer

I don't know why they call it life, it's just a moment with memories. — Tibor Fischer

Ultimately, it's about the quality of the writing whatever style you are writing. — Tibor Fischer

Usually, when you make a decision in life, unless you have access to parallel universes, you can't truly judge how right that decision was. — Tibor Fischer

Almost all of us have the hankering to be famous, to be important, to be admired, to stand out, but the assumption is you have to be different or better to get that. No. The best thing is to be famous, to be cuddled by the public, but to be like everyone else. — Tibor Fischer

Outside their country, Hungarian directors have had, from the critics at least, a friendly reception. — Tibor Fischer

You've got to try everything once, except those things you don't like, or that involve a lot of effort and getting up early. — Tibor Fischer

You can't really win as a Booker judge. If you choose the obvious names, the unit-shifters, you're accused of being timid and unimaginative; if you choose the unfamous, you're labelled willful and perverse. — Tibor Fischer

Even those with unspendable fortunes only have one mind, one mouth, two ears, two eyes and one pleasure station. There's only so much fun you can take. — Tibor Fischer

Most Hungarians know what it was to live in a dictatorship; some are old enough to have known both fascism and communism. No one wants to go back to that. — Tibor Fischer

As suburbs go, Bromley's not bad. But as David Bowie and Hanif Kureishi have observed, you do want to get out of there quickly. — Tibor Fischer

The impossible lives next door to the possible; people ring its door bell by accident all the time. — Tibor Fischer

No one wants a masterpiece knocking around when your own book is looking for attention. — Tibor Fischer

You read a lot," said the behatted kvetch indicating the two novels he had open. He nodded, because there was no denying it and because he didn't want to put up the ante for a conversation.
Books aren't life."
No, they're better," he replied and flipped through the thirty-two library cards in his wallet to remove his one credit card to pay.
This was twenty-first century vagrancy. — Tibor Fischer

We might not want to share our food or our money, but we do want to share our judgement. We want others to think we have more fun.But we need meeting-places of the mind. A Kilimanjaro of spirit that we've all visited so we can say of other things: it's shorter, or taller, or the same height as Kilimanjaro. — Tibor Fischer

I never could get a proper job. — Tibor Fischer

Stay cool, and wait for opportunity. — Tibor Fischer

Many of us, I suppose, see our existences not as lives, but as life-holders, zarfs, waiting for the job, the person, the event to fill it. — Tibor Fischer

Like most men, I'm a life support system for a phallus. — Tibor Fischer

One of the reasons why I don't write the same kind of book again and again is that I get bored very easily, so I like to make things interesting for myself. — Tibor Fischer

You don't really have to go anywhere in particular in New York City to have a good time. In every part of town, there's always something going on. It helps to know people there, too, because everything changes so fast, and they will be able to point out what's hot this month. — Tibor Fischer

When I think of Hungarian films, I think of despair and bleakness, and what's more, despair and bleakness of indefensible duration. — Tibor Fischer

Why endure verticality when you can be horizontal? — Tibor Fischer

Travelling is difficult, and writers tend to want to stay at home and do their work. — Tibor Fischer

Because my name is Hungarian, everyone assumed I knew about Hungary. I didn't. They also assumed that if you knew about Hungary, you also knew about the rest of Eastern Europe. — Tibor Fischer

Miami, in many ways, is a quintessentially American city. The juxtaposition of showy wealth with dire pennilessness, the tussle of glitz and decay doesn't come any more marked than here. — Tibor Fischer