Source: Zorba the Greek (1946), Ch. 21
“Following Korzybski, I put things in probabilities, not absolutes…”
Interview in High Times (2003)
Context: Following Korzybski, I put things in probabilities, not absolutes... My only originality lies in applying this zetetic attitude outside the hardest of the hard sciences, physics, to softer sciences and then to non-sciences like politics, ideology, jury verdicts and, of course, conspiracy theory.
Interview in 3 A.M Magazine (2002) http://www.3ammagazine.com/litarchives/2002_sep/interview_michel_faber.html
Context: Trust is absolutely precious, and its betrayal horrifies me. I do want readers to trust me. And yet I don't want to offer them a safe, predictable ride. The literary scene seems to be divided between "trustworthy" authors who give their fans a Big Mac that's totally unchallenging, and more ambitious authors who treat their readers with high-handed indifference. I want to earn the reader's trust while remaining unpredictable. I take the reader to some dark and emotionally uncomfortable places but never just for the sake of it. And I do care about how you're feeling on your journey. Many people have remarked on how readable and engaging they found The Crimson Petal despite its great length. That wasn't accidental. I thought very carefully about how to keep the reader intimate and awake.
“For me writing is a question of finding a certain rhythm. I compare it to the rhythms of jazz.”
Paris Review interview (1956)
Context: For me writing is a question of finding a certain rhythm. I compare it to the rhythms of jazz. Much of the time life is a sort of rhythmic progression of three characters. If one tells oneself that life is like that, one feels it less arbitrary.
'Essay on Imagism' (appended to 'Mirrors of Illusion', Sisley, London) 1909
