Jane Smiley quotes - page 4

'Ape House' is an ambitious novel in several ways, for which it is to be admired, and it is certainly an easy read, but because Gruen is not quite prepared for the philosophical implications of her subject, it is not as deeply involving emotionally or as interesting thematically as it could be. (Jane Smiley)
I wrote the Dickens book because I loved Dickens, not because I felt a kinship with him, but after writing the book it seemed to me that there was at least one similarity between us and that was that Dickens loved to write and wrote with the ease and conviction of breathing. Me, too. View quote
Jane Smiley
I was an only child. I've known only children. From this experience, I do believe that the children should outnumber the parents. View quote
Jane Smiley
Combined families often get bad reviews, but the family my children got when they traded away 'the suffocating four-person' nuclear one is one that has benefited all of them. View quote
Jane Smiley
One of the profound effects of economics in our day is that the people with the money and the power have embraced the guilt-free, external-less, everything-will-turn-out-okay-in-the-end philosophy of economics in order to justify their own evil works. And the economists, for the most part, have sucked up to that money. View quote
Jane Smiley
If there's anything Trollope novels always take seriously, it is money - how it flows from one character to another, how it is managed, who has it, who deserves it, and what it means to a character, male or female. View quote
Jane Smiley
Sinclair Lewis may be ripe for a revival; his books raise several interesting issues of art and fashion. View quote
Jane Smiley
Some novelists are luckier than others in the eras of their formative intellectual years, but all Weltanschauungs return, which means that most novelists have at least a chance of a revival. View quote
Jane Smiley
Good intentions are wicked! As far as I can see, all they lead to are lies and delusions. View quote
Jane Smiley
I say, when your hair turns gray and your children think they know who you are, do the thing that shakes up who you think you are, even who you had prided yourself on being. When all those around you say they simply don't recognize you any longer, that's the real compliment. View quote
Jane Smiley
Writing novels is an essentially amateur activity. (Jane Smiley)
Some people do wait their whole lives for something, and it's only when that thing arrives that they find out that they've been waiting rather than living. View quote
Jane Smiley
You cannot be an egomaniac on the horse. If you lose your temper and start beating him, either you will destroy him, or he will destroy you. As soon as you start riding horses seriously, you're being disciplined on a daily basis about how ignorant you are and what there is left for you to learn. View quote
Jane Smiley
Mom was a smoker. My grandfather was a smoker. My aunts were smokers. My uncles were smokers. I don't know any smokers now, not even my mom. View quote
Jane Smiley
The essence of charity ... was not deciding what others needed and giving it to them, but giving them what they wanted. View quote
Jane Smiley
How will you know a good farmer when you meet him? He will not ask you for any favors. View quote
Jane Smiley
Ignorance is a self-generating state of mind; one of its characteristics is that it doesn't recognize itself as ignorance. View quote
Jane Smiley
you know that the urge for revenge is a fact of marital life. View quote
Jane Smiley
A novelist is on the cusp between someone who knows everything and someone who knows nothing. View quote
Jane Smiley
everything is toxic. That's the point. You can't avoid toxins. Thinking you can is just another symptom of the toxic overload stage. View quote
Jane Smiley
Hungry ears are sharp ones. (Jane Smiley)
My characters never die screaming in rage. They attempt to pull themselves back together and go on. And that's basically a conservative view of life. View quote
Jane Smiley
I don't know - is everything the U.S. does a shocking embarrassment? View quote
Jane Smiley
As Fallingwater demonstrates, Wright's genius was always specific, but also always lively, always daring. View quote
Jane Smiley
Oh, that sound? I'm in the hot tub, reading a novel. View quote
Jane Smiley

Jane Smiley

Jane Smiley - Image
Photo: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0
Occupation: American Writer
Born: September 26, 1949
Quotes count: 106

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