Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
What once were two, are one
...smile first, then speak.
I read to make myself feel awake.
Err in the direction of kindness.
I'm such a baby if I even get a flu.
Goodbye. I'm leaving because I'm bored.
It's a big world, and I really like it.
Goodbye. I am leaving because I am bored.
I actually do believe in life after death.
The story sometimes writes you into a corner.
I'm comfortable with anything after the fact.
The Bush administration is a paragon of wisdom.
I'd just say that truth is power and vice versa.
Irony is just honesty with the volume cranked up.
Every step was a victory. He had to remember that.
At times, they're so Right and I'm so Left, we agree.
What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness.
She said America was a spoiled child ignorant of grief.
If you want to be good, all you've got to do is be good.
Character is that sum total of moments we can't explain.
The artist’s job, I think, is to be a conduit for mystery.
An artist's job is to be interested in things as they are.
Monologue is the most honest way to represent human beings.
I'm a liberal and I'm left of Gandhi and I don't like Trump.
The bottom line for me is that life is short and art is long.
I don't really write beautifully naturally, unlike some people.
Anyone can be shamed, but feeling guilt requires empathy within.
Back in 1992, I had my first story accepted by 'The New Yorker.'
All traditions are also full of meanness for the sake of meanness.
Nostalgia is, 'Hey, remember the other mall that used to be there?'
Equality has always been extant but some of us just didn't know it.
My artistic approach is that you're supposed to be a little baffled.
I'm not a natural criticizer - I prefer to like and praise and so on.
I hear that in my head all the time now: 'Why don't you go and see?'.
I don't mind being criticized intelligently; although I don't love it.
You can say you're a liberal and everybody laughs and it's a good time.
I'm fascinated with actors, and I've never quite understood the process.
As one gets older, this question of death, becomes more vexing and urgent.
The best thing we can bring to any fight is a calm and compassionate mind.
Compassion doesn't have to be weak or enabling; it can also be quite bold.
I try to keep my artistic opinions not so much "to myself" but "on myself."
Your first responsibility is to yourself and to your own goodness of heart.
It's funny with fiction - once you cut something, it hasn't happened anymore.
I'm a control freak. I'm defensive. And I'm an egomaniac. That's true about me.
Stay alert. The big moral crossroads in your life may not come labeled as such.
Whether you're eighteen or sixty, in a certain way, whatever you know is valid.
Chekhov - shall I be blunt? - is the greatest short story writer who ever lived.
In fiction, conceptualizing, I've found, produces dull and over-controlled text.
So I may not have had a gothic childhood, but childhood makes its own gothicity.
When I write I know that I'm going to have to produce 40 percent more than I need.