Martin Amis on writing

The arms race is a race between nuclear weapons and ourselves.

Being inoffensive, and being offended, are now the twin addictions of the culture.

For those thousands in the south tower, the second plane meant the end of everything. For us, its glint was the worldflash of a coming future.

To write a good love letter, you ought to begin without knowing what you mean to say and to finish without knowing what you have written.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau1712–1778

• Love

Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very’; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

C. S. Lewis1898–1963

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

Benjamin Franklin1706–1790

• Reading