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Harold Brodkey Quotes

I can’t change the past, and I don’t think I would. I don’t expect to be understood. I like what I’ve written, the stories and two novels. If I had to give up what I’ve written in order to be clear of this disease, I wouldn’t do it Picture Quote #1

I look upon another’s insistence on the merits of his or her life - duties, intellect, accomplishment - and see that most of it is nonsense Picture Quote #1

In New York one lives in the moment rather more than Socrates advised, so that at a party or alone in your room it will always be difficult to guess at the long term worth of anything Picture Quote #1

I have thousands of opinions still - but that is down from millions - and, as always, I know nothing Picture Quote #1

Me, my literary reputation is mostly abroad, but I am anchored here in New York. I can’t think of any other place I’d rather die than here Picture Quote #1

It bothers me that I won’t live to see the end of the century, because, when I was young, in St. Louis, I remember saying to Marilyn, my sister by adoption, that that was how long I wanted to live: seventy years Picture Quote #1

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God is an immensity, while this disease, this death, which is in me, this small, tightly defined pedestrian event, is merely and perfectly real, without miracle-or instruction Picture Quote #1

In our opposed forms of loneliness and self-recognition and recognition of the other, we touched each other often as we spoke; and on shore in explorations of the past, we strolled with our arms linked Picture Quote #1

I was always crazy about New York, dependent on it, scared of it - well, it is dangerous - but beyond that there was the pressure of being young and of not yet having done work you really liked, trademark work, breakthrough work Picture Quote #1

So an autobiography about death should include, in my case, an account of European Jewry and of Russian and Jewish events - pogroms and flights and murders and the revolution that drove my mother to come here Picture Quote #1

It is death that goes down to the center of the earth, the great burial church the earth is, and then to the curved ends of the universe, as light is said to do Picture Quote #1

God is an immensity, while this disease, this death, which is in me, this small, tightly defined pedestrian event, is merely and perfectly real, without miracle - or instruction Picture Quote #1

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I feel sorry for the man who marries you... because everyone thinks you’re sweet and you’re not Picture Quote #1

If you like to read, sometimes it’s interesting just to go and see what the reality is, of the word, of the seedy or not so seedy fiction writer, the drunk or sober poet... Sometimes you can go looking for illumination Picture Quote #1

Being ill like this combines shock - this time I will die - with a pain and agony that are unfamiliar, that wrench me out of myself Picture Quote #1

I awake with a not entirely sickened knowledge that I am merely young again and in a funny way at peace, an observer who is aware of time’s chariot, aware that some metamorphosis has occurred Picture Quote #1

This identity, this mind, this particular cast of speech, is nearly over Picture Quote #1

I am startled when people are themselves and are not my thoughts of them Picture Quote #1

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I often thought men stank of rage; it is why I preferred women, and homosexuals Picture Quote #1

Public radio is alive and kicking, it always has been Picture Quote #1

Death and I are head to head in a total collision, pure and mutual distaste Picture Quote #1

Often writing is like a struggle to get back to a kind of belated, quite impure virginity Picture Quote #1

Nothing I have ever written has been admired as much as the announcement of my death Picture Quote #1

I awake with a not entirely sickened knowledge that I am merely young again and in a funny way at peace, an observer who is aware of time’s chariot, aware that some metamorphosis has occurred Picture Quote #1

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You really can’t write unless you read. You have to know what the game is all about Picture Quote #1

The disparity between what people said life was and what I knew it to be unnerved me at times, but I swore that nothing would ever make me say life should be anything Picture Quote #1

My protagonists are my mother’s voice and the mind I had when I was thirteen Picture Quote #1

The cold winds of insecurity... hadn’t shredded the dreamy chrysalis of his childhood. He was still immersed in the dim, wet wonder of the folded wings that might open if someone loved him; he still hoped, probably, in a butterfly’s unthinking way, for spring and warmth. How the wings ache, folded so, waiting; that is, they ache until they atrophy Picture Quote #1

True stories, autobiographical stories, like some novels, begin long ago, before the acts in the account, before the birth of some of the people in the tale Picture Quote #1

Memory, so complete and clear or so evasive, has to be ended, has to be put aside, as if one were leaving a chapel and bringing the prayer to an end in one’s head Picture Quote #1

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Text Quotes

I can’t change the past, and I don’t think I would. I don’t expect to be understood. I like what I’ve written, the stories and two novels. If I had to give up what I’ve written in order to be clear of this disease, I wouldn’t do it. (Harold Brodkey Quotes) I look upon another’s insistence on the merits of his or her life - duties, intellect, accomplishment - and see that most of it is nonsense (Harold Brodkey Quotes) In New York one lives in the moment rather more than Socrates advised, so that at a party or alone in your room it will always be difficult to guess at the long term worth of anything (Harold Brodkey Quotes) I have thousands of opinions still - but that is down from millions - and, as always, I know nothing (Harold Brodkey Quotes) Me, my literary reputation is mostly abroad, but I am anchored here in New York. I can’t think of any other place I’d rather die than here (Harold Brodkey Quotes) It bothers me that I won’t live to see the end of the century, because, when I was young, in St. Louis, I remember saying to Marilyn, my sister by adoption, that that was how long I wanted to live: seventy years (Harold Brodkey Quotes) God is an immensity, while this disease, this death, which is in me, this small, tightly defined pedestrian event, is merely and perfectly real, without miracle-or instruction (Harold Brodkey Quotes) In our opposed forms of loneliness and self-recognition and recognition of the other, we touched each other often as we spoke; and on shore in explorations of the past, we strolled with our arms linked (Harold Brodkey Quotes) I was always crazy about New York, dependent on it, scared of it - well, it is dangerous - but beyond that there was the pressure of being young and of not yet having done work you really liked, trademark work, breakthrough work. (Harold Brodkey Quotes) So an autobiography about death should include, in my case, an account of European Jewry and of Russian and Jewish events - pogroms and flights and murders and the revolution that drove my mother to come here. (Harold Brodkey Quotes) It is death that goes down to the center of the earth, the great burial church the earth is, and then to the curved ends of the universe, as light is said to do. (Harold Brodkey Quotes) God is an immensity, while this disease, this death, which is in me, this small, tightly defined pedestrian event, is merely and perfectly real, without miracle - or instruction. (Harold Brodkey Quotes) I feel sorry for the man who marries you... because everyone thinks you’re sweet and you’re not. (Harold Brodkey Quotes) If you like to read, sometimes it’s interesting just to go and see what the reality is, of the word, of the seedy or not so seedy fiction writer, the drunk or sober poet... Sometimes you can go looking for illumination. (Harold Brodkey Quotes) Being ill like this combines shock - this time I will die - with a pain and agony that are unfamiliar, that wrench me out of myself (Harold Brodkey Quotes) I awake with a not entirely sickened knowledge that I am merely young again and in a funny way at peace, an observer who is aware of time’s chariot, aware that some metamorphosis has occurred. (Harold Brodkey Quotes) This identity, this mind, this particular cast of speech, is nearly over (Harold Brodkey Quotes) I am startled when people are themselves and are not my thoughts of them (Harold Brodkey Quotes) I often thought men stank of rage; it is why I preferred women, and homosexuals (Harold Brodkey Quotes) Public radio is alive and kicking, it always has been (Harold Brodkey Quotes) Death and I are head to head in a total collision, pure and mutual distaste (Harold Brodkey Quotes) Often writing is like a struggle to get back to a kind of belated, quite impure virginity (Harold Brodkey Quotes) Nothing I have ever written has been admired as much as the announcement of my death (Harold Brodkey Quotes) I awake with a not entirely sickened knowledge that I am merely young again and in a funny way at peace, an observer who is aware of time’s chariot, aware that some metamorphosis has occurred (Harold Brodkey Quotes) You really can’t write unless you read. You have to know what the game is all about (Harold Brodkey Quotes) The disparity between what people said life was and what I knew it to be unnerved me at times, but I swore that nothing would ever make me say life should be anything (Harold Brodkey Quotes) My protagonists are my mother’s voice and the mind I had when I was thirteen (Harold Brodkey Quotes) The cold winds of insecurity... hadn’t shredded the dreamy chrysalis of his childhood. He was still immersed in the dim, wet wonder of the folded wings that might open if someone loved him; he still hoped, probably, in a butterfly’s unthinking way, for spring and warmth. How the wings ache, folded so, waiting; that is, they ache until they atrophy (Harold Brodkey Quotes) True stories, autobiographical stories, like some novels, begin long ago, before the acts in the account, before the birth of some of the people in the tale (Harold Brodkey Quotes) Memory, so complete and clear or so evasive, has to be ended, has to be put aside, as if one were leaving a chapel and bringing the prayer to an end in one’s head (Harold Brodkey Quotes)

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