Tim Winton quotes
1960 – · Australia, 20th–21st century · novelist, short‑story writer and children’s author, essayist and environmental advocate
About Tim Winton
Born 4 August 1960 in Subiaco, Perth, Tim Winton came to prominence in the 1980s (Vogel Award for An Open Swimmer). A multiple Miles Franklin winner, he writes novels, linked short stories, memoir and children’s fiction, and has been active in campaigning for coastal and marine conservation in Western Australia.
Works: An Open Swimmer; Shallows; Cloudstreet; Dirt Music; Breath; Blueback
Quotes
“People are fools, not monsters”
Source: Breath (2008; Pan Macmillan 2009) · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The sentence is spoken by the narrator Bruce “Pikelet” Pike in Tim Winton’s novel Breath.
The line captures the novel's moral stance: harmful acts often spring from folly, vanity or blindness rather than inhuman evil. It’s voiced by Bruce “Pikelet” Pike, the adult narrator of Breath, as he reconsiders past wrongs and refuses to demonize fallible people.