Jonathan Carroll Quotes - Page 3

Kids own nothing. Everything is either promised, borrowed, longed for or exaggerated.

Some people are like blue jeans- the older and more beat up they get, the better they look.

A short story is a sprint, a novel is a marathon. Sprinters have seconds to get from here to there and then they are finished. Marathoners have to carefully pace themselves so that they don't run out of energy (or in the case of the novelist-- ideas) because they have so far to run. To mix the metaphor, writing a short story is like having a short intense affair, whereas writing a novel is like a long rich marriage.

Fear's greatest weapon is its ability to blind one to anything. In its presence, we forget there are others to consider, things to save besides ourselves.

Very often I'll find out at the end of a book what I put in at the beginning. A sort of process of elimination and discovery in one.

For an adult, eating alone at McDonald's is admitting a kind of defeat.

Why do people always gesture with their hands when they talk on the phone?

People are always waiting to be discovered.

It's always fun to walk down the street with or behind a really beautiful woman, for no reason other than to see how the world reacts to them.

Even the handsomest men do not have the same momentary effect on the world as a truly beautiful woman does.

Buying a pair of shoes is one of the most optimistic acts I know, next to falling in love. I like nothing better than to see an old man wearing a brand new pair of brogues or cap-toed oxfords, preferably jaunty orange-brown, unscuffed, heels unworn. We want to be here tomorrow, but buying new shoes, like falling in love, says I plan on being here tomorrow.

I feel like a cliche.

The angel said, "I like black-and-white films more than color because they're more artificial. You have to work harder to overcome your disbelief. It's sort of like prayer.

I started a short story but it was so dreary that even my pen threw up.

Death doesn't make you sad- it makes you empty. That's what's so bad about it. All of your charms and beliefs and funny habits fall fast through a big black hole, and suddenly you know they're gone because just as suddenly, there's nothing left at all inside.

There's almost always a point in a book where something happens that triggers the rest of the plot.

Coffee on an airplane always smells bad. Whenever it is served, suddenly the whole cabin stinks of it.

Women are always complaining about men's fascination with breasts. But what if men were absolutely indifferent to breasts? What would women do then with these things that serve one function once or twice in a lifetime, and the rest of the time are just in the way?

Salzburg... is a mountain town with a rushing river running right through the center, everything in the rain various shades of green and brown.

When I was in college, I was the editor of the literary magazine and insisted neither the editors nor the writers be specifically identified-only our student numbers appeared on the title page. I love that idea and still do.

I read less of everything now. With only fond memories of others' work, it will be interesting to give my own journal writing a try now.

I find you write with one person in mind. Usually for me that one person is my wife, because she's my most severe critic and understands best what I'm trying to do.

Far more disturbing than any spook house at an amusement park is a ride through the old hometown if you've been away for years.

I don't like to have to pan for gold when I read.

If you are very lucky, you're allowed to be in certain places during just the right season of your life: by the sea for the summer when you're seven or eight and full of the absolute need to swim until dark and exhaustion close their hands together, cupping you in between.