Lorrie Moore Quotes about Art

Writing is both the excursion into and the excursion out of one's life. That is the queasy paradox of the artistic life. It is the thing that, like love, removes one both painfully and deliciously from the ordinary

Writing is both the excursion into and the excursion out of one's life. That is the queasy paradox of the artistic life. It is the thing that, like love, removes one both painfully and deliciously from the ordinary shape of existence. It joins another queasy paradox: that life is an amazing, hilarious, blessed gift and that it is also intolerable.

Lorrie Moore

Art, Blessed, Writing

"See What Can Be Done by Lorrie Moore - wit without malice" by Claire Messud, www.theguardian.com. June 2, 2018.

That is what is wrong with cold people. Not that they have ice in their souls - we all have a bit of that - but that they insist every word and deed mirror that ice. They never learn the beauty or value of gesture. The emotional necessity. For them, it is all honesty before kindness, truth before art. Love is art, not truth. It's like painting scenery.

Lorrie Moore

Art, Honesty, Kindness

FaceBook post by Lorrie Moore from Dec 04, 2011

The detachment of the artist is kind of creepy. It's kind of rude, and yet really it's where art comes from. It's not the same as courage. It's closer to bad manners than to courage. If you're going to be a writer, you basically have to say, 'this is just who I am'. There's a certain indefensibility about it. It's not about loving your community and taking care of it — you're not attached to the chamber of commerce. It's a little unsafe. You have to be willing to have only four friends, not 11.

Lorrie Moore

Art, Who I Am, Loving You

"Lorrie Moore" by Louisa Kamps, www.elle.com. September 16, 2009.

Forgiveness lives alone and far off down the road, but bitterness and art are close, gossipy neighbors, sharing the same clothesline, hanging out their things, getting their laundry confused.

Lorrie Moore

Forgiveness, Art, Confused

Lorrie Moore (2012). “Self-Help”, p.59, Vintage