Quotes from Mavis Gallant

If your life isn't exactly the way you want it to be by the time you are forty-five, said Walter's father, whom he admired, not much point in continuing. You might as well hang yourself.

Gabriel si v té dobÄ› jeÅ¡tÄ› pÃ…â"¢edstavoval, že vÅ¡ichni nutnÄ› vedou zhruba stejný život, pÃ…â"¢ibližnÄ› na zp?sob polovyluÅ¡tÄ›né kÃ…â"¢ížovky. Neustále shromaž?oval definice a nová Ã…â"¢eÅ¡ení. Kdykoli se ale pÃ…â"¢iblížil k druhým lidem, zjistil, že jejich životy nejsou kÃ…â"¢ížovky, ale zaÅ¡ifrované problémy, a žádné dva se neshodují.

The children were small and still belonged to them.

these have characterized the work of the best American story writers of the last half-century, from John Cheever to Raymond Carver to Lorrie Moore, and the best Canadians, from Alice Munro to Margaret Atwood to Clark Blaise.

Reading some poetry early in the morning is a habit—I read it before I start to work. Whenever people say, Nobody reads poetry anymore, I think, Well, I do." —

This is not a pleasant April. Some mornings the air is so white and still you might expect a fall of snow, and at night the sky expands, as it does in December.

La verdadera vida de Carmela acababa de comenzar y ella no tenía dudas de lo que eso comportaba. Permanecería muda y expectante entre los poderosos y los extraños. Nadaría como un pececillo y aprendería a respirar bajo el agua.

There are a great many opinions in this world, and a good half of them are professed by people who have never been in trouble.

A writer's life stands in relation to his work as a house does to a garden, related but distinct.

Spring had been the season for dying in the old days. Invalids who had struggled through the dark comfort of winter took fright as the night receded.

She had the loaded handbag of someone who camps out and seldom goes home, or who imagines life must be full of emergencies.

She had the loaded handbag of someone who camps out and seldom goes home, or who imagines life must be full of emergencies.