Nick Hornby Quotes

Actions can have unintended adverse consequences.

Donald Trump is like a practical joke that got out of hand.

It is possible that a scientific discovery will be made that humans will later regret because it has awful consequences. The problem is, we probably would not know in advance and, once the discovery is made, it cannot be undiscovered.

I don't know if this is a stumbling block, but I had a real setback when I won a Nebula Award for the first story I ever had nominated for a Nebula in 1982. And you might think that was a good thing - and it was a wonderful thing, I don't regret it a bit. But I was sort of discombobulated by it.

Not only can you not plan the impact you're going to have, you often won't recognize it even while you're having it.

Every action we have is going to have repercussions in ways we could not anticipate.

It's the one you don't expect that knocks you out.

Be careful what you wish for. There's always a catch.

I'm a victim of maybe circumstances, but look at how it worked out.

The law of unintended consequences pushes us ceaselessly through the years, permitting no pause for perspective.

You never know when something's going to hit you in a particular way and just knock you loose.

I was really surprised at the success of 'House of Sand and Fog,' because it is so awfully dark. Believe it or not, when writing it, I never had the word 'tragedy' in my head - I wasn't trying to write a dark book at all.

Sometimes a scene may be about one thing, and it may end up still being about that, but the emotionality of it comes from somewhere else, or the humor of it comes from somewhere else, and it gives it that real-life quality.

Our plans never turn out as tasty as reality.

I feel like a hostage to fortune. Not that I am complaining. I wanted to play the role. But in truth I didn't think the show would be such a success. OK, I thought it would fail. Not because it was bad. I was confident it was good, but plenty of good things just sort of wither on the vine.

It's a lot of random situations that combine in a certain volatile form and create a bigger-than- the-whole situation that nobody could have predicted.

Repercussions are serious and they will take you places.

I think what was frustrating to see a lot of good people go. You don't picture it, you don't imagine it, don't think it could happen. When it does, you are puzzled.

How strange a thing like that happens to a man. He dabbles in something and does not realise that it is his life.

My fate has been that what I undertook was fully understood only after the fact.

You never know what events are going to transpire to get you home.

The knock-out punch is always the one you never see coming.

Sometimes in football you deserve to win but lose. Other times you deserve to lose or draw but you win. That is the game, and it's why I've always said you should never try to predict anything in football, especially in Europe.

I was surprised that my wife thought it was a good idea, then again with my agent, another woman, then my editor, another woman - in spite of the fact that all three of them reacted positively I still have this fear.

I suppose I try to look for those things where the world turns on you. It's every automobile accident, every accident at a party, you're having a good time until suddenly you're not.