Gary Shteyngart quotes

I was very, very sick when I was growing up in Russia. The ambulance constantly came to our house. I had horrible asthma that is easily treated in America, but they didn't even have inhalers back in Russia. (Gary Shteyngart)
I feel safe with him because he is so not my ideal and I feel like I can be myself because I'm not in love with him. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
Reading is entering into the consciousness of another human being. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
Remember this... develop a sense of nostalgia for something, or you'll never figure out what's important. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
Communications devices were always used to effect change, to effect revolution. Telephone, telegraph - these all seemed like very big enhancements at the time. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
You could drown a kitten in her blue eyes. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
Silence has been destroyed, but also the idea that it's important to learn how another person thinks, to enter the mind of another person. The whole idea of empathy is gone. We are now part of this giant machine where every second we have to take out a device and contribute our thoughts and opinions. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
If you stop thinking, if you stop wondering, you die. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
In a strange way, I expected Russia to become more like America since the Soviet Union collapsed, but the reverse is true. America has become more like Russia: a kleptocratic society. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
Good fiction makes me turn off all the other parts of my brain, so that I become quiet and submissive, entirely at the mercy of the work at hand. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
I read real books. On paper. You know, those printed books? I feel like this is the last thing I do to support my industry. I think they smell great, too. (Gary Shteyngart)
If I still lived in Russia, I'd be dead... or a really effective oligarch. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
You want to read a book? That requires introspection. It requires time away from people and time away from the constant need to communicate and to connect. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
Forget the fountain of youth, pal of mine. You can live to be a thousand, and it won't matter. Mediocrities like you deserve immortality. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
I just want fiction to remain a vital force for entertainment and not just for contemplation. Both things can exist. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
I always think that good writers should be growing up on the brink of death - it really lets them see mortality very clearly. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
The love I felt for her on that train ride had a capital and provinces, parishes and a Vatican, an orange planet and many sullen moons -- it was systemic and it was complete. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
By reading this message you are denying its existence and implying consent. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
The best thing about the iPhone is this that tells me where I am all the time. Theres never a need to feel lost anymore. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
A lot of the ways of advertising a book - the cover, whether somebody sees it on a subway or sees it in a bookstore - those things are going to rapidly diminish as we move to an electronic model. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
I write almost entirely in bed or on a couch with my feet up on the coffee table. I feel most creative when I'm looking out the window, and my bed and couch have nice views of the New York skyline. (Gary Shteyngart)
I don't have many possessions, apart from my books. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
That's what I always liked about science fiction - you can make the world end. Humour is my multiple warhead delivery system. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
Alcohol causes a lot of problems, and then to solve these problems, you drink more. View quote
Gary Shteyngart
All of my books have an element of a man who is in love with somebody and needs them desperately, not just for procreation but for being able to fully unbosom himself. He only feels comfortable discussing things with women. Which is funny, because 80 percent of readers are women! View quote
Gary Shteyngart

Gary Shteyngart

Gary Shteyngart - Image
Photo: Mark Coggins from San Francisco, CC BY 2.0
Occupation: American Writer
Born: July 5, 1972
Quotes count: 59

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