Quotes from Annie Proulx

If a piece of knotted string can unleash the wind, and if a drowned man can awaken, then I believe a broken man can heal.

You know, one of the tragedies of real life is that there is no background music.

It is my feeling that a story is not finished until it is read, and that the reader finishes it through his or her life experience, prejudices, worldview and thoughts.

I wish I knew how to quit you.

Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.

Everybody that went away suffered a broken heart. "I'm coming back some day," they all wrote. But never did. The old life was too small to fit anymore.

I find it satisfying and intellectually stimulating to work with the intensity, brevity, balance and word play of the short story.

Their silence comfortable. Something unfolding. But what? Not love, which wrenched and wounded. Not love, which came only once.

And it may be that love sometimes occurs without pain or misery.

If you are looking for smart judging based on merit, skip the Academy Awards next year and pay attention to the Independent Spirit Awards.

... there are four women in every man's heart. The Maid in the Meadow, the Demon Lover, the Stouthearted Woman, the Tall and Quiet Woman.

I think it's important to leave spaces in a story for readers to fill in from their own experience.

What we fear we often rage against.