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Anne Lamott Quotes - Page 17

All Quotes Acceptance Age Animation Anxiety Art Atheist Awakening Belief Caring Certainty Character Children Church Commitment Community Culture Dancing Discipline Doubt Drinking Earth Effort Energy Expectations Faith Fear Feelings Giving Giving Up God Goodness Grace Gratitude Grief Grieving Hardship Hate Healing Heart Heaven Home Hurt Inspiration Inspirational Inspiring Intuition Jesus Joy Laughter Life Loss Lying Magic Makeup Mask Memories Morning Mountain Pain Parenting Past Perfectionism Prayer Progress Reading Reality Recovery Resentment Running Self Esteem Shame Silence Singing Son Soul Spring Struggle Students Suffering Sunday Tea Understanding Vision Waiting Water Worry Writing

If your wife locks you out of the house, you don't have a problem with your door.

If your wife locks you out of the house, you don't have a problem with your door.

Doors, Wife, House

Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.178, Anchor

You know, we're often ashamed of asking for so much help because it seems selfish or petty or narcissistic, but I think, if there's a God -- and I believe there is -- that God is there to help. That's what God's job is.

Jobs, Selfish, Believe

"Anne Lamott Distills Prayer Into 'Help, Thanks, Wow'". "Morning Edition" with Renee Montagne, www.npr.org. November 19, 2012.

I very rarely read the responses to my Salon pieces, because (as you may have noticed) the trolls can be SO evil. So violent in their hostility to me and my work. OK, wait, wait, wait. That's a lie. I do read the responses--and get mesmerized, like cobra hypnosis. But I laugh (mostly) at the trolls, and think about what tiny little weenies they must have. (They seem to be mostly men.) And then ALL these smart, funny people leap to my defense, which is medicine, and fills me with love and thankfulness.

Smart, Lying, Men

Shirley Jackson said that a confused reader is an antagonistic reader, and I live by that. It's okay to start anywhere, and to let yourself write a big sloppy overly-detailed first draft. You just jump in, knowing that the water will be cold at first, but no one is making you swim.

Confused, Writing, Knowing

My writer friends, and they are legion, do not go around beaming with quiet feelings of contentment. Most of them go around with haunted, abused, surprised looks on their faces, like lab dogs on whom very personal deodorant sprays have been tested.

Dog, Feelings, Contentment

Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.30, Anchor

It's almost like learning to meditate to learn to hear what your kid is actually saying.

Kids

I became a Christian before I got sober. So I was a drunk, bulimic Christian.

Christian, Drunk, Sober

"How Anne Lamott Got Sober". Interview with Bigthink, bigthink.com. 2017.

The first draft is the child's draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later.

Children, Knowing, Shapes

Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.22, Anchor

So how on earth can I bring a child into the world, knowing that such sorrow lies ahead, that it is such a large part of what it means to be human? I'm not sure. That's my answer: I'm not sure.

Children, Lying, Mean

Anne Lamott (1994). “Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year”, Fawcett

We all have the dark, ignorant shadow inside us. I have worked endlessly to reveal it and heal it in me, but of course there's some primitive weird stuff in me. The Tea Party is about exhorting white supremacy, though, so I've had a tiny bit of trouble experiencing sympathy.

Party, Dark, White

All criticism hurts me. I'm so in the wrong business.

Hurt, Criticism, Hurt Me

We all often feel like we are pulling teeth, even those writers whose prose ends up being the most natural and fluid. The right words and sentences just do not come pouring out like ticker tape most of the time.

Teeth, Tape, Pouring

Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.22, Anchor

But easy's like, who cares? Easy's like, how much is easy going to get you?

Who Cares, Care, Easy

Anne Lamott (2011). “Crooked Little Heart: A Novel”, p.273, Anchor

Without using the word, everyone started forgiving each other again. Just like that, from the no of all nothingness: you have a big tense mess and out of it comes some joy. It must be magic.

Joy, Magic, Forgiving

Anne Lamott (2000). “Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith”, p.193, Anchor

But it was the singing that pulled me in and split me wide open.

Singing, Splits, Wide

Anne Lamott (2000). “Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith”, p.46, Anchor

We write to expose the unexposed. Most human beings are dedicated to keeping that one door shut. But the writer's job is to see what's behind it, to see the bleak unspeakable stuff, and to turn the unspeakable into words - not just into any words but if we can, into rhythm and blues. You can't do this without discovering your own true voice, and you can't find your true voice and peer behind the door and report honestly and clearly to us if your parents are reading over your shoulder.

Jobs, Reading, Writing

Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.198, Anchor

I'm very sad about Mitch McConnell probably getting to be Senate majority leader, if only for two years. To me, he is just everything that is wrong with the world, a bullying obstructionist blowhard liar (not to put too fine a point on it).

Bullying, Liars, Majority Leader

My father was a writer, so I grew up writing and reading and I was really encouraged by him. I had some sort of gift and when it came time to try to find a publisher I had a little bit of an "in" because I had his agent I could turn to, to at least read my initial offerings when I was about 20. But the only problem was that they were just awful, they were just terrible stories and my agent, who ended up being my agent, was very, very sweet about it, but it took about four years until I actually had something worth trying to sell.

Sweet, Father, Reading

Big Think Interview, bigthink.com.

The writer is a person who is standing apart, like the cheese in 'The Farmer in the Dell' standing there alone but deciding to take a few notes. You’re outside, but you can see things up close through your binoculars. Your job is to present clearly your viewpoint, your line of vision. Your job is to see people as they really are, and to do this, you have to know who you are in the most compassionate possible sense. Then you can recognize others.

Jobs, People, Vision

Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.97, Anchor

Good therapy helps. Good friends help. Pretending that we are doing better than we are doesn't. Shame doesn't. Being heard does.

Good Friend, Doe, Helping

Anne Lamott (2006). “Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith”, p.124, Penguin

I don't have very sophisticated taste in music. I listen to a lot of folk music. I like reggae.

Taste In Music, Reggae, Sophisticated

I was the angriest daughter on earth, and also, one of the most devoted.

Daughter, Mother, Earth

Anne Lamott (2006). “Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith”, p.232, Penguin

Anything you say from your heart to God is a prayer.

Prayer, Heart

"Interview with Anne Lamott, Author of Help, Thanks, Wow". Interview with Jana Llewellyn, www.friendsjournal.org. January 30, 2013.

This is our goal as writers, I think; to help others have this sense of--please forgive me--wonder, of seeing things anew, things that can catch us off guard, that break in on our small, bordered worlds.

Writing, Helping Others, Thinking

Anne Lamott (2007). “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life”, p.100, Anchor

...one of the worst things about being a parent, for me, is the self-discovery, the being face to face with one's secret insanity and brokenness and rage.

Discovery, Self, Parent

Anne Lamott (1994). “Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year”, Fawcett

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