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Top 400 Julian Barnes Quotes (2026 Update)
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Julian Barnes Quote: “I can see there might be a positive side to this wilful averting of the eye: ignoring the bad things makes it easier for you to carry on. But ignoring the bad things makes you end up believing that bad things never happen. You are always surprised by them. It surprises you that guns kill, that money corrupts, that snow falls in winter. Such naivety can be charming; alas, it can also be perilous.”

201. “I can see there might be a positive side to this wilful averting of the eye: ignoring the bad things makes it easier for you to carry on. But ignoring the bad things makes you end up believing that bad things never happen. You are always surprised by them. It surprises you that guns kill, that money corrupts, that snow falls in winter. Such naivety can be charming; alas, it can also be perilous.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Arthur was frequently baffled by the complacency with which people went on with what they insouciantly called their lives, as if both the word and the thing made perfect sense to them.”

202. “Arthur was frequently baffled by the complacency with which people went on with what they insouciantly called their lives, as if both the word and the thing made perfect sense to them.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “The companionship of dead writers is a wonderful form of live friendship.”

203. “The companionship of dead writers is a wonderful form of live friendship.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Silent or gagged women are powerless women. A powerful woman is one who can speak out to challenge existing power structures or to explore previously taboo territory.”

204. “Silent or gagged women are powerless women. A powerful woman is one who can speak out to challenge existing power structures or to explore previously taboo territory.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Be approximately satisfied with approximate happiness. The only thing in life which is clear and beyond doubt is unhappiness.”

205. “Be approximately satisfied with approximate happiness. The only thing in life which is clear and beyond doubt is unhappiness.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Isn’t growing up a necessary process of losing one’s innocence? Maybe, maybe not. But the trouble with life is, you rarely know when that loss is going to happen, do you? And how it will be, afterwards.”

206. “Isn’t growing up a necessary process of losing one’s innocence? Maybe, maybe not. But the trouble with life is, you rarely know when that loss is going to happen, do you? And how it will be, afterwards.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “We live with such easy assumptions, don’t we? For instance, that memory equals events plus time. But it’s all much odder than this. Who was it said that memory is what we thought we’d forgotten? And it ought to be obvious to us that time doesn’t act as a fixative, rather as a solvent. But it’s not convenient – it’s not useful – to believe this; it doesn’t help us get on with our lives; so we ignore it.”

207. “We live with such easy assumptions, don’t we? For instance, that memory equals events plus time. But it’s all much odder than this. Who was it said that memory is what we thought we’d forgotten? And it ought to be obvious to us that time doesn’t act as a fixative, rather as a solvent. But it’s not convenient – it’s not useful – to believe this; it doesn’t help us get on with our lives; so we ignore it.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Real literature was about psychological, emotional, and social truth as demonstrated by the actions and reflections of its protagonists; the novel was about character developed over time.”

208. “Real literature was about psychological, emotional, and social truth as demonstrated by the actions and reflections of its protagonists; the novel was about character developed over time.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Some Englishman once said that marriage is a long dull meal with the pudding served first.”

209. “Some Englishman once said that marriage is a long dull meal with the pudding served first.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “I am a worm in comparison with His Excellency. I am a worm.’ ‘Yes, that’s just it, you are a worm indeed.”

210. “I am a worm in comparison with His Excellency. I am a worm.’ ‘Yes, that’s just it, you are a worm indeed.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Perhaps a sense of death is like a sense of humour. We all think the one we’ve got – or haven’t got – is just about right, and appropriate to the proper understanding of life. It’s everyone else who’s out of step.”

211. “Perhaps a sense of death is like a sense of humour. We all think the one we’ve got – or haven’t got – is just about right, and appropriate to the proper understanding of life. It’s everyone else who’s out of step.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on coloured canvas, reveals himself.”

212. “Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on coloured canvas, reveals himself.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.”

213. “History just burps, and we taste again that raw-onion sandwich it swallowed centuries ago.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Who can control how much they love? If you can control it, then it isn’t love. I don’t know what you call it instead, but it isn’t love.”

214. “Who can control how much they love? If you can control it, then it isn’t love. I don’t know what you call it instead, but it isn’t love.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “How easy it was to be a Communist when you weren’t living under Communism!”

215. “How easy it was to be a Communist when you weren’t living under Communism!”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Oliver used to have a theory he called Love, etc.: in other words the world divides into people for whom love is everything and the rest of life is a mere ‘etc.,’ and people who don’t value love enough and find the most exciting part of life is the ’etc.”

216. “Oliver used to have a theory he called Love, etc.: in other words the world divides into people for whom love is everything and the rest of life is a mere ‘etc.,’ and people who don’t value love enough and find the most exciting part of life is the ’etc.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “At times it feels as if life itself is the greatest loser, the true bereaved party, because it is no longer subjected to that radiant curiosity of hers.”

217. “At times it feels as if life itself is the greatest loser, the true bereaved party, because it is no longer subjected to that radiant curiosity of hers.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Music – good music, great music – had a hard, irreducible purity to it. It might be bitter and despairing and pessimistic, but it could never be cynical. If music is tragic, those with asses’ ears accuse it of being cynical. But when a composer is bitter, or in despair, or pessimistic, that still means he believes in something.”

218. “Music – good music, great music – had a hard, irreducible purity to it. It might be bitter and despairing and pessimistic, but it could never be cynical. If music is tragic, those with asses’ ears accuse it of being cynical. But when a composer is bitter, or in despair, or pessimistic, that still means he believes in something.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Perhaps love could never be captured in a definition; it could only ever be captured in a story.”

219. “Perhaps love could never be captured in a definition; it could only ever be captured in a story.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Sarcasm was dangerous to its user, identifiable as the language of the wrecker and the saboteur. But irony – perhaps, sometimes, so he hoped – might enable you to preserve what you valued, even as the noise of time became loud enough to knock out window-panes.”

220. “Sarcasm was dangerous to its user, identifiable as the language of the wrecker and the saboteur. But irony – perhaps, sometimes, so he hoped – might enable you to preserve what you valued, even as the noise of time became loud enough to knock out window-panes.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Was it the case that colours dimmed as the eye grew elderly? Or was it rather that in youth your excitement about the world transferred itself onto everything you saw and made it brighter?”

221. “Was it the case that colours dimmed as the eye grew elderly? Or was it rather that in youth your excitement about the world transferred itself onto everything you saw and made it brighter?”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Isn’t there something between stagnation and heading somewhere?” “Like?” “Like having a nice time. Enjoy the day and all that?”

222. “Isn’t there something between stagnation and heading somewhere?” “Like?” “Like having a nice time. Enjoy the day and all that?”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “The notion of redefining the deity into something that works for you is grotesque.”

223. “The notion of redefining the deity into something that works for you is grotesque.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Of course, there were other sorts of literature – theoretical, self-referential, lachrymosely autobiographical – but they were just dry wanks. Real literature was about psychological, emotional and social truth as demonstrated by the actions and reflections of its protagonists; the novel was about character developed over time.”

224. “Of course, there were other sorts of literature – theoretical, self-referential, lachrymosely autobiographical – but they were just dry wanks. Real literature was about psychological, emotional and social truth as demonstrated by the actions and reflections of its protagonists; the novel was about character developed over time.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “At best you have one of those debilitating conditions which come in many forms, and which some people decline to admit actually exist.”

225. “At best you have one of those debilitating conditions which come in many forms, and which some people decline to admit actually exist.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “I’m a novelist, so I can’t write about ideas unless they’re attached to people.”

226. “I’m a novelist, so I can’t write about ideas unless they’re attached to people.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Great books are readable anyway. Dickens is readable. Jane Austen is readable. John Updike’s readable. Hawthorne’s readable. It’s a meaningless term. You have to go the very extremes of literature, like Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake,” before you get a literary work that literally unreadable.”

227. “Great books are readable anyway. Dickens is readable. Jane Austen is readable. John Updike’s readable. Hawthorne’s readable. It’s a meaningless term. You have to go the very extremes of literature, like Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake,” before you get a literary work that literally unreadable.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “One feeling at least grows stronger in me with each year that passes – a longing to see the cranes. At this time of year I stand on a hill and watch the sky. Today they did not come. There were only wild geese. Geese would be beautiful if cranes did not exist.”

228. “One feeling at least grows stronger in me with each year that passes – a longing to see the cranes. At this time of year I stand on a hill and watch the sky. Today they did not come. There were only wild geese. Geese would be beautiful if cranes did not exist.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “He sometimes asked himself a question about life. Which are truer, the happy memories, or the unhappy ones? He decided, eventually, that the question was unanswerable.”

229. “He sometimes asked himself a question about life. Which are truer, the happy memories, or the unhappy ones? He decided, eventually, that the question was unanswerable.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Art is the whisper of history, heard above the noise of time. Art does not exist for art’s sake: it exists for people’s sake.”

230. “Art is the whisper of history, heard above the noise of time. Art does not exist for art’s sake: it exists for people’s sake.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Every day is Sunday” – that wouldn’t make a bad epitaph, would it?”

231. “Every day is Sunday” – that wouldn’t make a bad epitaph, would it?”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Those in the middle got killed; governments and terrorists survived. At.”

232. “Those in the middle got killed; governments and terrorists survived. At.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “In Britain I’m sometimes regarded as a suspiciously Europeanized writer, who has this rather dubious French influence.”

233. “In Britain I’m sometimes regarded as a suspiciously Europeanized writer, who has this rather dubious French influence.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “How submerged does a reference have to be before it drowns?”

234. “How submerged does a reference have to be before it drowns?”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Susan had pointed out that everyone has their love story. Even if it was a fiasco, even if it fizzled out, never got going, had all been in the mind to begin with: that didn’t make it any the less real. And it was the only story.”

235. “Susan had pointed out that everyone has their love story. Even if it was a fiasco, even if it fizzled out, never got going, had all been in the mind to begin with: that didn’t make it any the less real. And it was the only story.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “First love fixes a life for ever: this much I have discovered over the years.”

236. “First love fixes a life for ever: this much I have discovered over the years.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “And that’s a life, isn’t it? Some achievements and some disappointments.”

237. “And that’s a life, isn’t it? Some achievements and some disappointments.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “The diary was evidence; it was – it might be – corroboration. It might disrupt the banal reiterations of memory. It might jump-start something – though I had no idea what.”

238. “The diary was evidence; it was – it might be – corroboration. It might disrupt the banal reiterations of memory. It might jump-start something – though I had no idea what.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Why should anything happen when everything has happened?”

239. “Why should anything happen when everything has happened?”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “The ability to see and examine himself; the ability to make moral decisions and act on them; the mental and physical courage of his suicide. “He took his own life” is the phrase; but Adrian also took charge of his own life, he took command of it, he took it in his hands – and then out of them. How few of us – we that remain – can say that we have done the same? We muddle along, we let life happen to us, we gradually build up a store of memories.”

240. “The ability to see and examine himself; the ability to make moral decisions and act on them; the mental and physical courage of his suicide. “He took his own life” is the phrase; but Adrian also took charge of his own life, he took command of it, he took it in his hands – and then out of them. How few of us – we that remain – can say that we have done the same? We muddle along, we let life happen to us, we gradually build up a store of memories.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Martha was a clever girl, and therefore not a believer.”

241. “Martha was a clever girl, and therefore not a believer.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Life versus Death becomes, as Montaigne pointed out, Old Age versus Death.”

242. “Life versus Death becomes, as Montaigne pointed out, Old Age versus Death.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “The best form of government is one that is dying, because that means it’s giving way to something else.”

243. “The best form of government is one that is dying, because that means it’s giving way to something else.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “And I thought of a cresting wave of water, lit by a moon, rushing past and vanishing upstream, pursued by a band of yelping students whose torchbeams criss-crossed in the dark. There is accumulation. There is responsibility. And beyond these, there is unrest. There is great unrest.”

244. “And I thought of a cresting wave of water, lit by a moon, rushing past and vanishing upstream, pursued by a band of yelping students whose torchbeams criss-crossed in the dark. There is accumulation. There is responsibility. And beyond these, there is unrest. There is great unrest.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Jake, who is both fitter and more hedonistic than me, once told me what they say about martinis: “One’s perfect. Two’s too many. And three’s not enough.”

245. “Jake, who is both fitter and more hedonistic than me, once told me what they say about martinis: “One’s perfect. Two’s too many. And three’s not enough.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Remember the botched brothel-visit in L’Education sentimentale and remember its lesson. Do not participate: happiness lies in the imagination, not the act. Pleasure is found first in anticipation, later in memory.”

246. “Remember the botched brothel-visit in L’Education sentimentale and remember its lesson. Do not participate: happiness lies in the imagination, not the act. Pleasure is found first in anticipation, later in memory.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Still, as I tend to repeat, I have some instinct for survival, for self-preservation. And believing you have such an instinct is almost as good as actually having it, because it means you act in the same way.”

247. “Still, as I tend to repeat, I have some instinct for survival, for self-preservation. And believing you have such an instinct is almost as good as actually having it, because it means you act in the same way.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “But it’s still the eyes we look at, isn’t it? That’s where we found the other person.”

248. “But it’s still the eyes we look at, isn’t it? That’s where we found the other person.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “But that was too simple: the idea of a man split into two by a dividing axe. Better: a man crushed into a hundred pieces of rubble, vainly trying to remember how they – he – had once fitted together. –.”

249. “But that was too simple: the idea of a man split into two by a dividing axe. Better: a man crushed into a hundred pieces of rubble, vainly trying to remember how they – he – had once fitted together. –.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Very few of my characters are based on people I’ve known. It is too constricting.”

250. “Very few of my characters are based on people I’ve known. It is too constricting.”

— Julian Barnes

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