Quotes by John Fowles

“The most important questions in life can never be answered by anyone except oneself.”

“That is the great distinction between the sexes. Men see objects, women see the relationships between objects.”

“There are many reasons why novelists write, but they all have one thing in common - a need to create an alternative world.”

“An answer is always a form of death.”

“Most marriages recognize this paradox: Passion destroys passion; we want what puts an end to wanting what we want.”

“We all write poems; it is simply that the poets are the ones who write in words”

“Whatever sympathy I feel towards religions, whatever admiration for some of their adherents, whatever historical or biological necessity I see in them, whatever metaphorical truth, I cannot accept them as credible explanations of reality; and they are incredible to me in proportion to the degree that they require my belief in positive human attributes and intervenient powers in their divinities.”

“So I felt this burning summer. In form I mightbelong to humankind; in reality I seemed one of aravenous self-destroying horde of rats.I am glad there is no God. If there were,I cannot imagine that we rampant, myopic, andinsatiably self-centred creatures shouldbe allowed to survive a single day more”

“In some mysterious way woods have never seemed to me to be static things. In physical terms, I move through them; yet in metaphysical ones, they seem to move through me.”

“Baseball and cricket are beautiful and highly stylized medieval war substitutes, chess made flesh, a mixture of proud chivalry and base - in both senses - greed”

“Our accepting what we are must always inhibit our being what we ought to be.”

Once upon a time there was a young prince who believed in all things but three. He did not believe in princesses, he did not believe in islands, he did not believe in God. His father, the king, told him that such things did not exist. As there were no princesses or islands in his fathers domains, and no sign of God, the young prince believed his father.But then, one day, the prince ran away from his palace. He came to the next land. There, to his astonishment, from every coast he saw islands, and on these islands, strange and troubling creatures whom he dared not name. As he was searching for a boat, a man in full evening dress approached him along the shore.Are those real islands? asked the young prince.Of course they are real islands, said the man in evening dress.And those strange and troubling creatures?They are all genuine and authentic princesses.Then God must exist! cried the prince.I am God, replied the man in full evening dress, with a bow.The young prince returned home as quickly as he could.So you are back, said the father, the king.I have seen islands, I have seen princesses, I have seen God, said the prince reproachfully. The king was unmoved.Neither real islands, nor real princesses, I have seen God, said the prince reproachfully.The king was unmoved.Neither real islands, nor real princesses, nor a real God exist.I saw them!Tell me how God was dressed.God was in full evening dress.Were the sleeves of his coat rolled back?The prince remembered that they had been. The king smiled.That is the uniform of a magician. You have been deceived.At this, the prince returned to the next land, and went to the same shore, where once again he came upon the man in full evening dress.My father the king has told me who you are, said the young prince indignantly. You deceived me last time, but not again. Now I know that those are not real islands and real princesses, because you are a magician.The man on the shore smiled.It is you who are deceived, my boy. In your fathers kingdom there are many islands and many princesses. But you are under your fathers spell, so you cannot see them.The prince pensively returned home. When he saw his father, he looked him in the eyes.Father, is it true that you are not a real king, but only a magician?The king smiled, and rolled back his sleeves.Yes, my son, I am only a magician.Then the man on the shore was God.The man on the shore was another magician.I must know the real truth, the truth beyond magic.There is no truth beyond magic, said the king.The prince was full of sadness.He said, I will kill myself.The king by magic caused death to appear. Death stood in the door and beckoned to the prince. The prince shuddered. He remembered the beautiful but unreal islands and the unreal but beautiful princesses.Very well, he said. I can bear it.You see, my son, said the king, you too now begin to be a magician.

When you draw something it lives and when you photograph it it dies

Why should I struggle through hundreds of pages of fabrication to reach half a dozen very little truths?For fun?Fun! He pounced on the word. Words are for truth. For facts. Not fiction.

There is only one good definition of God: the freedom that allows other freedoms to exist.

I dont believe in God. And I certainly dont feel chosen.I think you may be.I smiled dubiously. Thank you.It is not meant as a compliment. Hazard makes you elect. You cannot elect yourself.

We talked for hours. He talked and I listened. It was like wind and sunlight. It blew all the cobwebs away.

He stared to sea. I gave up all ideas of practicing medicine. In spite of what I have just said about the wave and the water, in those years in France I am afraid I lived a selfish life. That is, I offered myself every pleasure. I traveled a great deal. I lost some money dabbling in the theatre, but I made much more dabbling on the Bourse. I gained a great many amusing friends, some of whom are now quite famous. But I was never very happy. I suppose I was fortunate. It took me only five years to discover what some rich people never discover — that we all have a certain capacity for happiness and unhappiness. And that the economic hazards of life do not seriously affect it.

Think. In a minute from now you could be saying, I risked death. I threw for life, and I won life. It is a very wonderful feeling. To have survived.

Alive. Alive in the way that death is alive.