# Quote — Kingsley Amis, Jake's Thing

> 'What's that stuff they put in ships to keep them from going all over the place?'
>
> 'What? Oh … ballast?'
>
> 'That's right. People's sex drives are like ballast, they keep them steady. It sounds wrong, but they do.'

- Author: [Kingsley Amis](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kingsley-amis.md)
- Book: [Jake's Thing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kingsley-amis/jakes-thing.md)
- Page: 273
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kingsley_Amis#Jake's_Thing_(1978)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/kingsley-amis/jakes-thing/whats-that-stuff

## More from this book

> If there's one word that sums up everything that's gone wrong since the War, it's Workshop. After Youth, that is.

p. 149 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/kingsley-amis/jakes-thing/if-theres-one.md)