“We live in a world ruled by fictions of every kind”
mass merchandising, advertising, politics conducted as a branch of advertising, the instant translation of science and technology into popular imagery, the increasing blurring and intermingling of identities within the realm of consumer goods, the preempting of any free or original imaginative response to experience by the television screen. We live inside an enormous novel. For the writer in particular it is less and less necessary for him to invent the fictional content of his novel. The fiction is already there. The writer's task is to invent the reality.
"Introduction" to the French edition (1974) of Crash (1973); reprinted in Re/Search no. 8/9 (1984)
Crash (1973)
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J. G. Ballard78
British writer 1930–2009Related quotes
“Does it strike you, Mr. Keller, that we live every day in the science fiction of our youth?”
Robert Charles Wilson (1953) author
Divided by Infinity (p. 172)
The Perseids and Other Stories (2000)
“In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start living.”
Robert Kirkman (1978) American comic book writer
Source: The Walking Dead, Vol. 01: Days Gone Bye
“Characters in novels are all fiction like the world they live in.”
Carole Morin British writer
Chin Wag At The Slaughterhouse (2013)
Context: Characters in novels are all fiction like the world they live in. Of course Vivien Lash has things in common with me but if she actually was me I wouldn’t have been able to invent her. And I’m not plotting to murder my husband!
The closest connection between me and my characters is that we live in a city that’s recognisable as London, but it’s a version of London that came out of my head.
Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist
The Rome Press Conference (23 July 2001)
“Stories are consoling, fiction is one of the consolation prizes for having lived in the world.”
Don DeLillo (1936) American novelist, playwright and essayist
Source: Conversations with Don Delillo
Anne Bishop (1955) American fiction writer
Source: Daughter of the Blood
“We live in a world of teams made up of all kinds of people.”
Nigel Cumberland (1967) British author and leadership coach
We see this every day on TV, in newspapers and on the web – it might news about a winning sports team, a company’s leadership team who have succeeded in buying another company or it might be a about a group of homeowners who have won a battle against a big developer. <br class="br">Source: Your Job-Hunt Ltd – Advice from an Award-Winning Asian Headhunter (2003), Successful Recruitment in a Week (2012) https://books.google.ae/books?id=p24GkAsgjGEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=nigel+cumberland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIGjAA#v=onepage&q=nigel%20cumberland&f=false, Managing Teams in a Week (2013) https://books.google.ae/books?id=qZjO9_ov74EC&printsec=frontcover&dq=nigel+cumberland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIIDAB#v=onepage&q=nigel%20cumberland&f=false, Secrets of Success at Work – 50 techniques to excel (2014) https://books.google.ae/books?id=4S7vAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=nigel+cumberland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIJjAC#v=onepage&q=nigel%20cumberland&f=false, Leading Teams in a Week – Teach Yourself series (2016) https://books.google.ae/books?id=uuH3CAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1&dq=nigel+cumberland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF75Xw0IHNAhULLcAKHazACBMQ6AEIRjAH#v=onepage&q=nigel%20cumberland&f=false, p.2
“Any decent kind of world, you wouldn't need all these rules.”
John Updike book Rabbit Redux
Rabbit Redux (1969)
Greta Thunberg book No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference
Declaration of Rebellion, Extinction Rebellion, Parliament Square, London, 31 October 2018.
Cited in No One is Too Small to Make a Difference, Penguin Books, 2019, page 12 (ISBN 9780141991740).
2018, "Almost Everything is Black and White" (October 2018)