Darran Anderson > Quotes

“We would do well, as Orwell counselled, to see the traces of the dystopian around us, to find the ends of those threads and how far along we are; the most accurate prophecy being that people, and the allure of domination, never really change. We can Copenhagenise our future cities, make them as green and smart as we can, but provided we are still embedded in systems that reward cronyism, exploitation and short-term profiteering, that require poverty and degradation, it will be mere camouflage. Dystopias will have cycle lanes and host World Cups. What may save us is, in Orwell’s words, a dedication to ‘common decency’ and the perpetual knowledge that it need not be like this.”
― Darran Anderson, Imaginary Cities

“The mantra these days is “talk about your feelings.” It sounds like good advice and perhaps it is. It is said, though, by those who can already speak freely. For others, there are consequences to talking, to admitting to colleagues, friends, family—many of whom are struggling too—that you are struggling. There are difficulties in even finding the words, and then in facing the distinct possibility of someone mumbling something awkward or dismissive in response, breaking eye contact. Words have a weight. Sometimes they are lead.”
― Darran Anderson, Inventory: A Memoir

“Time is the hidden constituent to architecture and the power that is wielded through it. The awe of architecture, the intractable monumental weight, seeks to concretise authority into history forever.”
― Darran Anderson, Imaginary Cities

“We tell ourselves stories about war. Of good guys and bad guys. Redemption and sacrifice. Yet the nature of conflict is such that when it is unleashed, it is almost impossible to remain good.”
― Darran Anderson, Inventory: A Memoir

“The mind is its own place, and in itself / Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.’3”
― Darran Anderson, Imaginary Cities: A Tour of Dream Cities, Nightmare Cities, and Everywhere in Between

“Learning, in an age where it was the light to theocratic darkness, was to be feared and reviled because it threatened vested interests.”
― Darran Anderson, Imaginary Cities: A Tour of Dream Cities, Nightmare Cities, and Everywhere in Between

“Not much is truly holy in this world, but precious is the person who does not pass on the pain and the desire for retribution, that self-sustaining spiral; who says, “No more,” not out of resignation or defeat, but out of something that might be called love, if it even needs a name.

It became clear to me now what my father had given me. He had broken the cycle.”
― Darran Anderson, Inventory: A Memoir

“To accuse Polo of inventing fictions is to assume that perception and memory are not partially fictional to begin with.”
― Darran Anderson, Imaginary Cities

“I did not yet know that glimpses were not complete access or revelation, that sometimes you uncover what they want you to uncover or things that are best left unheard.”
― Darran Anderson

“People drown on dry land. They are not easy to help. They are not saints. And neither, it turns out, is anyone else.”
― Darran Anderson, Inventory: A Memoir