40 Powerful Zadie Smith Quotes To Inspire Any Budding Writer

Zadie Smith is a British writer and novelist most famous for her novel 'White Teeth'.

One of the most prominent voices in the literary circle, Zadie Smith, gained instant fame as an author and English novelist and has written many powerful novels.

She currently serves as a tenured professor in the Creative Writing faculty at New York University. She has two new publications coming out in 2021, called 'The Wife Of Willesden' and 'Weirdo'.

Set to release in April 2021, 'Weirdo' is an illustration novel by Zadie. Following the life of Maud, a judo suit-wearing guinea pig, who, not surprisingly, no one approves of or understands.

Embracing her individuality, Maud makes bold and stern decisions when thrown into confusing situations. 'Weirdo' is a story about the power of being different in a conformist world.

Premiering at the Kiln Theater in London in September 2020, 'The Wife of Willesden' is Zadie’s first attempt at stage writing.

It is the 21st century translation of Geoffrey Chaucer's classic 'The Wife Of Bath's Prologue' set on the Kilburn High Road.

The book is set to release in June 2021 and tells the story of the wife of Willesden, married five times, who has set out to tell her side of the story as a mother, wife, lover, aunt and friend to anyone and everyone who will lend ears to it.

Hailing from north west London, Zadie Smith’s debut novel was an instant hit. Her debut was one that made all the other authors and novelists out there super jealous. 'White Teeth' gained massive, widespread success and left her readers wanting more. And they have never been disappointed!

Zadie Smith's newest book 'Imitations', released in August 2020, is a collection of essays based on her reflections and encounters during lockdown. She writes this book naturally, as she thinks about the things she puts on the paper.

A novelist much too good for her times, she is a natural. She likes to draw from her own experiences and doesn’t quote other people.

Zadie Smith poetry and quotes by Zadie Smith on love will make you believe in the power of words. They’re intuitive and honest quotes that transcend time and hold a different relevance to different people.

Writing about her experiences as an immigrant in Britain, her novels are raw and gripping. They force their readers to face the harsh realities of the world. She’s featured on all the bestseller lists from the New York Times to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Smith’s ascend as a novelist to literary stardom was no coincidence. Here are some of the best Zadie Smith quotes that will rouse everyone from her readers to other budding writers!

And if you like this list, you might also like our lists of Toni Morrison quotes and Alice Walker quotes. But for now, enjoy our collection of quotes here.

Zadie Smith Quotes On Writing

Zadie Smith has always been very vocal and honest about her experiences and methods. According to her, every author or novelist can be classified into one of the two categories: the Macro Planner, identified by their Moleskins and post-its, and the Micro Managers, characterized by their notes and organizational and structural plans of the novel they’re yet to write.

A self-professed Micro Manager, Zadie Smith agrees to being intolerant towards the approach of the Macro Planner as she finds them “incomprehensible”.

One piece of advice Smith gives every author and novelist out there is to read.

In one of the Zadie Smith quotes she says, “spend more time doing this than anything else”. For more Zadie Smith quotes and her tips on writing, continue reading.

1. “Pulchritude - beauty where you would least suspect it, hidden in a word that looked like it should signify a belch or a skin infection.”

- Zadie Smith.

2. “Learning how to be a good reader is what makes you a writer.”

- Zadie Smith.

3. “Work on a computer that is disconnected from the ­internet.”

- Zadie Smith.

4. “Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.”

- Zadie Smith.

5. “Try to read your own work as a stranger would read it, or even better, as an enemy would.”

- Zadie Smith.

6. “I'm always interested in the way people speak and move in their environment, in a very particular environment. I'm never interested in writing a kind of neutral, universal novel that could be set anywhere. To me, the novel is a local thing always.”

- Zadie Smith.

7. “She hopes for nothing except fine weather and a resolution. She wants to end properly, like a good sentence. ”

- Zadie Smith, 'The Autograph Man' (2002).

8. “The very reason I write is so that I might not sleepwalk through my entire life.”

- Zadie Smith.

9. “When I write, I am trying to express my way of being in the world.”

- Zadie Smith.

10. “Nowadays, I know the true reason I read is to feel less alone, to make a connection with a consciousness other than my own.”

- Zadie Smith. ‘Changing My Mind’ (2009).

11. “I like books that expose me to people unlike me and books that do battle against caricature or simplification. That, to me, is the heroic in fiction.”

- Zadie Smith.

12. “When people use that stream of consciousness, it's kind of just a term they use for anything that looks slightly different on the page.”

- Zadie Smith.

13. “The past is always tense, the future perfect.”

- Zadie Smith.

14. “I recognize myself to be an intensely naive person. Most novelists are, despite frequent pretensions to deep socio-political insight.”

- Zadie Smith.

15. “I like books that don’t give you an easy ride. I like the feeling of discomfort. The sense of being implicated.”

- Zadie Smith.

16. “If you’re going to write a good book, you have to make mistakes and you have to not be so cautious all the time.”

- Zadie Smith.

17. “A writer's duty is to register what it is like for him or her to be in the world.”

- Zadie Smith.

18. “We cannot be all the writers all the time. We can only be who we are.”

- Zadie Smith.

19. “Writing is my way of expressing – and thereby eliminating – all the various ways we can be wrong-headed.”

- Zadie Smith.

20. “Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation’. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle’. All that matters is what you leave on the page.”

- Zadie Smith.

21. “For ridding oneself of faith is like boiling seawater to retrieve the salt - something is gained but something is lost.”

- Zadie Smith, 'White Teeth' (2000).

22. “The greater the skill, the greater the gift that you give the artist and that the artist gives you. That's the incredibly unfashionable idea of reading. And yet when you practice reading, and you work at a text, it can only give you what you put into it.”

- Zadie Smith.

23. “But the problem with readers, the idea we're given of reading is that the model of a reader is the person watching a film, or watching television. So the greatest principle is, ‘I should sit here and I should be entertained.’”

- Zadie Smith.

24. “I find it impossible to experience either pride or shame over accidents of genetics in which I had no active part. I'm not necessarily proud to be female. I am not even proud to be human—I only love to be so.”

- Zadie Smith., ‘Changing My Mind’ (2009).

'White Teeth' Zadie Smith Quotes

‍

A novelist like Smith is hard to come by. Her unadulterated way of writing made her debut novel an instant success.

'White Teeth' talks about the lives of various multicultural families living in the British society of London. It however has lessons for other cultures besides the British as well. Far from being a happy novel, the author provides a grim look inside the hardships of these families in the English country.

As an immigrant and mixed race person, Smith’s works often revolve around the theme of immigration. This is probably one of the reasons for her widespread fame and affinity.

'White Teeth' has received various awards, including two EMMAs (BT Ethnic and Multicultural Media Award) for Best Novel and Best Female Newcomer. Here is a list of the best 'White Teeth' quotes. Take your pick and share with others too.

If you are looking for Zadie Smith quotes to make you believe, you are at the right place. These Zadie Smith quotes from 'White Teeth' can make anyone believe more that they ever did.

25. “Full stories are as rare as honesty.”

- Zadie Smith, 'White Teeth' (2000).

26. “Greeting cards routinely tell us everybody deserves love. No. Everybody deserves clean water. Not everybody deserves love all the time.”

- Zadie Smith, 'White Teeth' (2000).

27. “You must live life with the full knowledge that your actions will remain. We are creatures of consequence.”

- Zadie Smith, 'White Teeth' (2000).

28. “...the wicked lie, that the past is always tense and the future, perfect.”

- Zadie Smith, 'White Teeth' (2000).

29. “Every moment happens twice: inside and outside, and they are two different histories.”

- Zadie Smith, 'White Teeth' (2000).

30. “You are never stronger...than when you land on the other side of despair.”

- Zadie Smith, 'White Teeth' (2000).

31. “...They cannot escape their history any more than you yourself can lose your shadow.”

- Zadie Smith, 'White Teeth' (2000).

32. “In the end, your past is not my past and your truth is not my truth and your solution - is not my solution.”

- Zadie Smith, 'White Teeth' (2000).

'On Beauty' Zadie Smith Quotes

‍

Released in 2005, 'On Beauty' is a fictional novel set in a fictional American town outside Boston. Concentrated on multicultural family lives, it deals with inter-family relationships and those among other families.

It deals with questions of love and the people we love. The mistakes we make and how we project them on others.

Building on the competition between families, 'On Beauty' showcases the different facets of the strife in today’s contemporary world. Humorous and dark at the same time, novelist Smith’s novel forces us to think about the culture clash and black heritage in society today.

A funny and moving story about love and family, 'On Beauty' by Zadie Smith received many awards. It was the winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Here is our pick of the best Zadie Smith 'On Beauty' quotes. Choose the best quotes by the novelist Zadie Smith that you like and share them.

Your friends are sure to like these Zadie Smith quotes too, so read on for amazing Zadie Smith quotes that the novelist shares in the book 'On Beauty'. These Zadie Smith quotes from 'On Beauty' are sure to inspire you.

33. “I am very selfish, really. I lived for love.”

- Zadie Smith, 'On Beauty' (2005).

34. “The greatest lie ever told about love is that it sets you free.”

- Zadie Smith, 'On Beauty' (2005).

35. “I don't ask myself what did I live for, said Carlene strongly. That is a man's question. I ask whom did I live for. ”

- Zadie Smith, 'On Beauty' (2005).

36. “Sometimes you get a flash of what you look like to other people.”

- Zadie Smith, 'On Beauty' (2005).

37. “The future's another country, man... And I still ain't got a passport.”

- Zadie Smith, 'On Beauty' (2005).

38. “Stop worrying about your identity and concern yourself with the people you care about, ideas that matter to you, beliefs you can stand by, tickets you can run on. Intelligent humans make those choices with their brain and hearts and they make them alone.”

- Zadie Smith, 'On Beauty' (2005).

39. “She did what girls generally do when they don't feel the part: she dressed it instead.”

- Zadie Smith, 'On Beauty' (2005).

40. “She represents love, beauty, purity, the ideal female and the moon... and she's the mystère of jealousy, vengeance and discord, and, on the other hand, of love, perpetual help, goodwill, health, beauty and fortune.”

- Zadie Smith, 'On Beauty' (2005).

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotes for everyone to enjoy! If you like our suggestions for 40 powerful Zadie Smith quotes to inspire any budding writer, then why not take a look at these T.S. Eliot quotes or Alfred, Lord Tennyson quotes for more?