Literature Quotes

"The most difficult thing, it seems to me, is to record ordinary life."

"Writing is merely another form of thinking."

"Humans will always tell stories."

"People need narratives to survive."

"I am a writer and a student of the human spirit."

"Literature is a mirror held up to society."

"It seems plain that the writing of imaginative literature, in which the human heart can be seen in operation, is the greatest help we can offer to psychological understanding."

"The short story is a form that has to be self-evident."

"Words are the tools of writers."

"We read to know we are not alone."

"The writer must be true to life."

"Stories are how we make sense of chaos."

"The writer observes humanity."

"Story is the oldest teacher."

"A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people."

"Every novel is an act of faith."

"There is no frigate like a book to take us lands away."

"A story cannot exist without structure."

"The story is what lies beneath the surface."

"I don't think of myself as a feminist writer, I think of myself as a writer."

"Hunger is a legitimate topic for fiction."

"We're all stories in the end."

"A story is a way to say something that can't be said any other way."

"I often write stories that appear to have no message or meaning because the message is the meaning."

"The eye is the first thing the reader notices and its condition is usually despicable."

"The role of the fiction writer is not to instruct or to moralize."

"Everywhere I go, I'm asked about the novel. This means the novel must still be in a bad way."

"A story that is any good must convey something calmly that has previously only been felt acutely."

"The eye of the reader is the one that matters most."

"I usually write about people in a state of despair."