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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“Travelling is difficult, and writers tend to want to stay at home and do their work.”

“When I think of Hungarian films, I think of despair and bleakness, and what's more, despair and bleakness of indefensible duration.”

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

“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.”

“No one wants a masterpiece knocking around when your own book is looking for attention.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

“There's prejudice and poverty in Hungary as there is in every country.”

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

“Ultimately, it's about the quality of the writing whatever style you are writing.”

“Stay cool, and wait for opportunity.”

“I never could get a proper job.”

“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.”