Jane Smiley Quotes - Page 4

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.

One of the things that Ivar knew about Mrs. Walker was that she would only tell him what she knew if he asked the right question, so he spent a portion of his time meditating over what he might ask Mrs. Walker and how he might phrase the question.

As soon as you bring up money, I notice, conversation gets sociological, then political, then moral.

With preference came point of view; with point of view, personality; with personality, uniqueness; with uniqueness, grief.

People with good intentions never give up!

In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it.

it still astounds me, after forty years, that there is no good bread between Chicago and San Francisco.

A love story, at least a convincing one, requires three elements - the lover, the beloved, and the adventures they have together.

everything is toxic. That's the point. You can't avoid toxins. Thinking you can is just another symptom of the toxic overload stage.

Somehow, knowing that Alzheimer's is coming mocks all one's aspirations - to tell stories, to think through certain issues as only a novel can do, to be recognised for one's accomplishments and hard work - in a way that old familiar death does not.

A horse herd was, in its very essence, the manifestation of the expression 'It's always something.

There are hundreds of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings around the United States and in other countries, too. Wright lived into his 90s, and one of his most famous buildings, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, was completed just before his death. Wright buildings look like Wright buildings - that is their paradox.

An urban novelist never minds a little decay.

Gossip. The more you talk about why people do things, the more ideas you have about how the world works.

Eavesdrop and write it down from memory - gives you a stronger sense of how people talk and what their concerns are. I love to eavesdrop!

you know that the urge for revenge is a fact of marital life.

As Fallingwater demonstrates, Wright's genius was always specific, but also always lively, always daring.

A novelist is on the cusp between someone who knows everything and someone who knows nothing.

Americans took a great deal too much credit for creating wealth, when most of the time they had really just been living off natural bounty unprecedented in the history of the world.

There is a sociology of horses, as well as a psychology. It is most evident in the world of horse racing, where many horses are gathered together, where year after year, decade after decade, they do the same, rather simple thing - run in races and try to win.

Another thing I learned is that novels, even those from apparently distant times and places, remain current and enlightening, and also comforting.

Oh, that sound? I'm in the hot tub, reading a novel.

There are several methods for introducing your children to driving, and all of them are bad. Probably the worst is to put it off.

The essence of charity ... was not deciding what others needed and giving it to them, but giving them what they wanted.

All equestrians, if they last long enough, learn that riding in whatever form is a lifelong sport and art, an endeavor that is both familiar and new every time you take the horse out of his stall or pasture.