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Top 400 Julian Barnes Quotes (2026 Update)
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Julian Barnes Quote: “The whole dream of democracy,’ he wrote, ’is to raise the proletariat to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeoisie.”

401. “The whole dream of democracy,’ he wrote, ’is to raise the proletariat to the level of stupidity attained by the bourgeoisie.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “How were we to know that our lives had in any case begun, that some advantage had already been gained, some damage already inflicted?”

402. “How were we to know that our lives had in any case begun, that some advantage had already been gained, some damage already inflicted?”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “I lie in bed at home, trying to put feelings into words. On the one hand – and this is the part to do with the past – love feels like the vast and sudden easing of a lifelong frown. But simultaneously – this is the part to do with the present and the future – it feels as if the lungs of my soul have been inflated with pure oxygen.”

403. “I lie in bed at home, trying to put feelings into words. On the one hand – and this is the part to do with the past – love feels like the vast and sudden easing of a lifelong frown. But simultaneously – this is the part to do with the present and the future – it feels as if the lungs of my soul have been inflated with pure oxygen.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Love, he had ventured, was like the vast and sudden uncreasing of a lifelong frown.”

404. “Love, he had ventured, was like the vast and sudden uncreasing of a lifelong frown.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “In my opinion, every love, happy or unhappy, is a real disaster once you give yourself over to it entirely.”

405. “In my opinion, every love, happy or unhappy, is a real disaster once you give yourself over to it entirely.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Frenchly, they set off with 1,300 litres of claret, fifty bottles of Pernod, and a mechanical piano.”

406. “Frenchly, they set off with 1,300 litres of claret, fifty bottles of Pernod, and a mechanical piano.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “There was an old char who came twice a week, Mrs. Dyer; she had poor eyesight for cleaning but perfect vision for stealing vegetables and pints of milk. But who else came to the house? No friends were mentioned. Each weekend, Macleod played a round of golf; Susan had the tennis club. In all the times I joined them for supper, I never met anyone else.”

407. “There was an old char who came twice a week, Mrs. Dyer; she had poor eyesight for cleaning but perfect vision for stealing vegetables and pints of milk. But who else came to the house? No friends were mentioned. Each weekend, Macleod played a round of golf; Susan had the tennis club. In all the times I joined them for supper, I never met anyone else.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “But what helps? What do we need to know? Not everything. Everything confuses. Directness also confuses. The full-face portrait staring back at you hypnotises. Flaubert is usually looking away in his portraits and photographs. He’s looking away so that you can’t catch his eye; he’s also looking away because what he can see over your shoulder is more interesting than your shoulder.”

408. “But what helps? What do we need to know? Not everything. Everything confuses. Directness also confuses. The full-face portrait staring back at you hypnotises. Flaubert is usually looking away in his portraits and photographs. He’s looking away so that you can’t catch his eye; he’s also looking away because what he can see over your shoulder is more interesting than your shoulder.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “From what I did and what I said Let them not seek to find who I was.”

409. “From what I did and what I said Let them not seek to find who I was.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Well, getting our history wrong is part of being a person.”

410. “Well, getting our history wrong is part of being a person.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “OK, then, well, are you a feminist?’ She smiled at me. ‘Naturally – I am a woman.”

411. “OK, then, well, are you a feminist?’ She smiled at me. ‘Naturally – I am a woman.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “When we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, we invent different pasts for others.”

412. “When we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, we invent different pasts for others.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “He was too clever. If you’re that clever you can argue yourself into anything. You just leave common sense behind.”

413. “He was too clever. If you’re that clever you can argue yourself into anything. You just leave common sense behind.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “We were happy enough; that’s what people say, isn’t it? How happy is happy enough? It sounds like a grammatical mistake – happy enough, like rather unique...”

414. “We were happy enough; that’s what people say, isn’t it? How happy is happy enough? It sounds like a grammatical mistake – happy enough, like rather unique...”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “The present looks back at some great figure of an earlier century and wonders, Was he on our side? Was he a goodie? What a lack of self-confidence this implies: the present wants both to patronise the past by adjudicating on its political acceptability, and also to be flattered by it, to be patted on the back and told to keep up the good work.”

415. “The present looks back at some great figure of an earlier century and wonders, Was he on our side? Was he a goodie? What a lack of self-confidence this implies: the present wants both to patronise the past by adjudicating on its political acceptability, and also to be flattered by it, to be patted on the back and told to keep up the good work.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “Monoglot, the sign of an enclosed and self-deluding country.”

416. “Monoglot, the sign of an enclosed and self-deluding country.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “He knew what they said of him locally: Oh, he likes to keep himself to himself. The phrase was descriptive, not judgemental. It was a principle of life the English still respected. And it wasn’t just about privacy, about an Englishman’s home – even a pebbledash semi – being his castle. It was about something more: about the self, and where you kept it, and who, if anyone, was allowed to fully see it.”

417. “He knew what they said of him locally: Oh, he likes to keep himself to himself. The phrase was descriptive, not judgemental. It was a principle of life the English still respected. And it wasn’t just about privacy, about an Englishman’s home – even a pebbledash semi – being his castle. It was about something more: about the self, and where you kept it, and who, if anyone, was allowed to fully see it.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “It is a moment when a shift in the nature of literary fame occurs. Previously, a famous writer was a writer who became famous by writing. Wilde pioneered the idea of becoming famous first, and then getting down to the writing. By the end of 1882 he was “still” only a minor poet and diligent lecturer. But he was also famous on two continents and therefore primed for a literary career.”

418. “It is a moment when a shift in the nature of literary fame occurs. Previously, a famous writer was a writer who became famous by writing. Wilde pioneered the idea of becoming famous first, and then getting down to the writing. By the end of 1882 he was “still” only a minor poet and diligent lecturer. But he was also famous on two continents and therefore primed for a literary career.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “In the case of George and the Dragon – an encounter in which the dice were theologically loaded – any morally sentient human being must surely sympathise with the poor dragon.”

419. “In the case of George and the Dragon – an encounter in which the dice were theologically loaded – any morally sentient human being must surely sympathise with the poor dragon.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “And first love always happens in the overwhelming first person. How can it not? Also, in the overwhelming present tense. It takes us time to realise that there are other persons, and other tenses.”

420. “And first love always happens in the overwhelming first person. How can it not? Also, in the overwhelming present tense. It takes us time to realise that there are other persons, and other tenses.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “And remember, whenever you see a character in a novel, let alone a biography or history book, reduced and neatened into three adjectives, always distrust that description.”

421. “And remember, whenever you see a character in a novel, let alone a biography or history book, reduced and neatened into three adjectives, always distrust that description.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “If I asked you “What is life?”, you would probably reply, in so many words, that it is all just a coincidence.”

422. “If I asked you “What is life?”, you would probably reply, in so many words, that it is all just a coincidence.”

— Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes Quote: “This was a typical statement from my mother: lucid, opinionated, explicitly impatient of opposing views. Her dominance of the family, and her certainties about the world, made things usefully clear in childhood, restrictive in adolescence, and grindingly repetitive in adulthood.”

423. “This was a typical statement from my mother: lucid, opinionated, explicitly impatient of opposing views. Her dominance of the family, and her certainties about the world, made things usefully clear in childhood, restrictive in adolescence, and grindingly repetitive in adulthood.”

— Julian Barnes

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