Quotes About Author

the people of Maine have a punishing streak of self-hatred that makes Bostonians seem like lighthearted imps.

It is the very horror of the world that obliges us to learn to hope.

The author explains that some find recourse from injustice in literature and art but that these tend to deepen sensitivity to injustice rather than dull it.

He had heard her say, so many times, that a society that approved of making abortion illegal was a society that approved of violence against women; that making abortion illegal was simply a sanctimonious, self-righteous form of violence against women- it was just another way of legalizing violence against women, Nurse Caroline would say.

If pride is a sin ... moral pride is the greatest sin.

Just because you're sober, don't think you're a good driver, Cookie.

I'll bet every fucking one of your angels is going to be terrifying!

Of course, if I write a first-person novel about a woman writer, I am inviting every book reviewer to apply the autobiographical label -- to conclude that I am writing about myself. But one must never not write a certain kind of novel out of fear of what the reaction to it will be.

Real life is too sloppy a model for good fiction," Juan Diego had said.

There were some very good books in the backseat of the little Volkswagen; good books were the best protection from evil that Pepe had actually held in his hands—you could not hold faith in Jesus in your hands, not in quite the same way you could hold good books.

But don't you see how your … opinions can be disturbing? It's very American—to have opinions as … strong as your opinions. It's very Canadian to distrust strong opinions." "I'm a Canadian," I said. "I've

As Em would one day act out for me, pantomimists are always misquoted.

Your disapproval is noted. It is legitimate. You are welcome to disapprove. But you are not welcome to be ignorant, to look the other way, to be unable to perform—should you change your mind.

But comedy is ingrained. A writer doesn't choose to be comic. You can choose a plot, or not to have one. You can choose your characters. But comedy is not a choice; it just comes out that way.

It was as if all the books in her room had been feeding on her, had consumed – not nourished – her.

Good night you Kings of New England. You Princes of Maine. Who knows what book this quote comes from?

Greene's writing—he was the first modern writer I liked. Before Greene, my heroes were all novelists from the nineteenth century. Living in the nineteenth century can expand your loneliness; as a writer, it's lonely living there.

Le romancier est comme un médecin qui ne s'occuperait que des incurables. Et nous sommes tous des incurables.

Both,' Garp wrote, 'were of the opinion that the practice of law was vulgar, but the study of it was sublime.' They

But miracles don't c-c-c-cause belief—real miracles don't m-m-m-make faith out of thin air; you have to already have faith in order to believe in real miracles.

In a novel, your foremost objective isn't to offend no one," the

Good evening, knocked-up faculty daughter. How are you managing now, you smelly little slut?

I later found a bookstore on the Calle de Gravina—Libros, I believe it was called. (I'm not kidding, a bookstore called "Books.")

for a novelist, in Candy's opinion, was also a kind of impostor doctor, but a good doctor nonetheless.