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Gene Wolfe Quotes - Page 3

All Quotes Children Past Pleasure Writing
One can't found a novel theology on Nothing, and nothing is so secure a foundation as a contradiction. Look at the great successes of the past--they say their deities are the masters of all the universes, and yet that

One can't found a novel theology on Nothing, and nothing is so secure a foundation as a contradiction. Look at the great successes of the past--they say their deities are the masters of all the universes, and yet that they require grandmothers to defend them, as if they were children frightened by poultry. Or that the authority that punishes no one while there exists a chance for reformation will punish everyone when there is no possibility anyone will become the better for it.

Gene Wolfe
Children, Grandmother, Past
Gene Wolfe (1994). “Shadow & Claw: The First Half of 'The Book of the New Sun'”, p.57, Macmillan

Some writers say they cannot write in front of a window; many say they cannot function without almost perfect quiet. A writer with only two hours a day can write in the back of an open truck on the Interstate.

Gene Wolfe
Writing, Almost Perfect, Two
Gene Wolfe (1995). “Castle of Days”, p.221, Macmillan

We have treatments for disturbed persons, Nicholas. But, at least for the time being, we have no treatment for disturbing persons.

Gene Wolfe
Treatment, Disturbed, Persons
Gene Wolfe (2009). “The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction”, p.102, Macmillan

...in some situations winning consist[s] of disentangling oneself.

Gene Wolfe
Winning, Situation, Oneself

Have a short story feature two situations, and then let them solve each other.

Gene Wolfe
Writing, Two, Stories

We only have one dog now. Calamity Jane had to be put down. She was very old, and her medicine no longer controlled her seizures. Dilly is five now, I think. He's a neutered American Pit Bull Terrier, very gentle, about the color of buckskin.

Gene Wolfe
Dog, Thinking, Color
"Shadows of the New Sun: Wolfe on Writing/Writers on Wolfe". Book by Gene Wolfe, 2007.

Ambiguity is necessary in some of my stories, not in all. In those, it certainly contributes to the richness of the story. I doubt that thematic closure is never attainable.

Gene Wolfe
Doubt, Stories, Closure

I was trapped in admiration for what I had once admired, as a fly in amber remains the captive of some long-vanished pine.

Gene Wolfe
Long, Amber, Admiration
Gene Wolfe (1994). “Shadow & Claw: The First Half of 'The Book of the New Sun'”, p.221, Macmillan

I get a lot of people complaining about my ambiguity, often in cases which there is nothing ambigous at all. As far as I can see, people read it when they were half stoned and listening to the TV. Then they come back and say gee, it's impossible to figure out what's going on in a story.

Gene Wolfe
Writing, People, Listening

I could speculate, but it would be just speculation and the kind of thing that you would get in with a science fiction story. And if I was doing a science fiction story then I would come up with what can go wrong with this system.

Gene Wolfe
Writing, Fiction Stories, Would Be

All the history of the stage is a struggle, the gasping of a beautiful child born at the point of death. The moralists, censorship and oppression, technology, and now poverty have all tried to destroy her. Only we, the actors and audiences, have kept her alive.

Gene Wolfe
Beautiful, Art, Children
Gene Wolfe (2009). “The very best of Gene Wolfe: a definitive retrospective of his finest short fiction”

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