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Paul Auster Quotes

I don’t have all the facts. And I might misremember. As a matter of fact, after I finished Winter Journal, I realized that I’d gotten someone’s name wrong Picture Quote #1

The childhood scenes [ in The Tree of Life] are tremendous. My favorite moment is when the mother levitate - for three seconds. Of course, this is how a child thinks of his mother Picture Quote #1

I don’t like pictures in books. I feel that the pictures diminish the words, and the words diminish the pictures, and it doesn’t work Picture Quote #1

I would say that Edgar Allan Poe, [Georges] Perec, Thomas Pynchon, and [Jorge Luis] Borges are all boy-writers. These are writers who take... a kind of demonic joy in writing Picture Quote #1

I wrote Report from the Interior was that after I finished Winter Journal, I took a pause, and I realized there was more I wanted to say Picture Quote #1

I guess I wanted to leave America for awhile. It wasn’t that I wanted to become an expatriate, or just never come back, I needed some breathing room. I’d already been translating French poetry, I’d been to Paris once before and liked it very much, and so I just went Picture Quote #1

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Something happens, Blue thinks, and then it goes on happening forever. It can never be changed, can never be otherwise Picture Quote #1

In the end, the art of hunger can be described as an existential art. It is a way of looking death in the face, and by death I mean death as we live it today: without God, without hope of salvation. Death as the abrupt and absurd end of life Picture Quote #1

Bodies count, of course - they count more than we’re willing to admit - but we don’t fall in love with bodies, we fall in love with each other. We all know that, but the moment we go beyond a catalogue of surface qualities and appearances, words begin to fail us, to crumble apart in mystical confusions and cloudy, unsubstantial metaphors Picture Quote #1

When I write, the story is always uppermost in my mind, and I feel that everything must be sacrificed to it. All elegant passages, all the curious details, all the so-called beautiful writing - if they are not truly relevant to what I am trying to say, then they have to go Picture Quote #1

Becoming a writer is not a ‘career decision’ like becoming a doctor or a policeman. You don’t choose it so much as get chosen, and once you accept the fact that you’re not fit for anything else, you have to be prepared to walk a long, hard road for the rest of your days Picture Quote #1

Even in New York, there are a lot of very attractive girls pedaling around. That just happens to be one of the nice sights in our city, seeing a young woman on a bike Picture Quote #1

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I believe that the whole idea of the consumer society is tottering. We’ve kept ourselves going by producing more and more goods, most of which people don’t need. I’m anti-consumerism; I own four pairs of black Levis and that’s it Picture Quote #1

I don’t think of myself as a metafictional writer at all. I think of myself as a classic writer, a realist writer, who tends to have flights of fancy at times, but nevertheless, my feet are mostly on the ground Picture Quote #1

I write the paragraph, then I’m crossing out, changing words, trying to improve it. When it seems more or less OK, then I type it up because sometimes it’s almost illegible, and if I wait, I might not be able to read it the next day Picture Quote #1

The book that convinced me I wanted to be a writer was ‘Crime and Punishment’. I put the thing down after reading it in a fever over two or three days... I said, ‘If this is what a book can be, then that is what I want to do.’ Picture Quote #1

What used to keep me up at night was the fact that I didn’t know how I was going to pay the rent. Now that I can pay the rent, I’m worrying about people I care about, you know, the people I love. The little aches and pains of my children that I, my family. That’s always first Picture Quote #1

Reading, at the deepest level, is a physical experience. Most people are not attuned to this, most people don’t learn how to read - poetry for example, or high-quality prose. They’re used to reading magazines and newspapers, which are only of the mind, but not of the body Picture Quote #1

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Autobiographical writings, essays, interviews, various other things... All the non-fiction prose I wanted to keep, that was the idea behind this collected volume, which came out about few years ago. I didn’t think of Winter Journal, for example, as an autobiography, or a memoir. What it is is a literary work, composed of autobiographical fragments, but trying to attain, I hope, the effect of music Picture Quote #1

There’s a difference between doing memoir and writing a novel. If I had put the story of the boy killing my dog - and that was Eric also, what a little monster he was! - in a novel, even if I took it directly from life, it would be fiction Picture Quote #1

I’m not a boy-writer, I’ve never been. I wanted to be a boy-writer when I was young, and I think that held me back. I wanted to be very clever, and funny, but I’m not very clever and not terribly funny. I’ve finally accepted my limits, and I do what I can do Picture Quote #1

Most people just want to be part of the world, they want to live, love, and enjoy themselves - to take part in the world around them. Whereas artists are always retreating, locking the door, and inventing other worlds Picture Quote #1

I was very moved to see that the name of the boat was Hamlet - an imaginary character becomes so important to people, we think about them so much that we name a ship after them. The imaginary lives on in the real Picture Quote #1

There’s love, and certainly children you care about more than yourself. But nevertheless, we’re alone in our heads Picture Quote #1

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Some like to think that a keen appreciation of art can actually make us better people - more just, more moral, more sensitive, more understanding. Perhaps that is true - in certain rare, isolated cases Picture Quote #1

Baseball is a universe as large as life itself, and therefore all things in life, whether good or bad, whether tragic or comic, fall within its domain Picture Quote #1

Changing your mind is probably one of the most beautiful things people can do. And I’ve changed my mind about a lot of things over the years Picture Quote #1

Children, I mean, think of your own childhood, how important the bedtime story was. How important these imaginary experiences were for you. They helped shape reality, and I think human beings wouldn’t be human without narrative fiction Picture Quote #1

I am very scared at the beginning of each book, because I’ve never written it before. I feel I have to teach myself how to do it Picture Quote #1

You have to protect it too, you can’t let just any stupid person take it and do something demoralizing with it. At the same time, I don’t believe in being so rigid about controlling what happens either Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

I don’t have all the facts. And I might misremember. As a matter of fact, after I finished Winter Journal, I realized that I’d gotten someone’s name wrong (Paul Auster Quotes) The childhood scenes [ in The Tree of Life] are tremendous. My favorite moment is when the mother levitate - for three seconds. Of course, this is how a child thinks of his mother (Paul Auster Quotes) I don’t like pictures in books. I feel that the pictures diminish the words, and the words diminish the pictures, and it doesn’t work (Paul Auster Quotes) I would say that Edgar Allan Poe, [Georges] Perec, Thomas Pynchon, and [Jorge Luis] Borges are all boy-writers. These are writers who take... a kind of demonic joy in writing (Paul Auster Quotes) I wrote Report from the Interior was that after I finished Winter Journal, I took a pause, and I realized there was more I wanted to say (Paul Auster Quotes) I guess I wanted to leave America for awhile. It wasn’t that I wanted to become an expatriate, or just never come back, I needed some breathing room. I’d already been translating French poetry, I’d been to Paris once before and liked it very much, and so I just went (Paul Auster Quotes) Something happens, Blue thinks, and then it goes on happening forever. It can never be changed, can never be otherwise (Paul Auster Quotes) In the end, the art of hunger can be described as an existential art. It is a way of looking death in the face, and by death I mean death as we live it today: without God, without hope of salvation. Death as the abrupt and absurd end of life (Paul Auster Quotes) Bodies count, of course - they count more than we’re willing to admit - but we don’t fall in love with bodies, we fall in love with each other. We all know that, but the moment we go beyond a catalogue of surface qualities and appearances, words begin to fail us, to crumble apart in mystical confusions and cloudy, unsubstantial metaphors (Paul Auster Quotes) When I write, the story is always uppermost in my mind, and I feel that everything must be sacrificed to it. All elegant passages, all the curious details, all the so-called beautiful writing - if they are not truly relevant to what I am trying to say, then they have to go (Paul Auster Quotes) Becoming a writer is not a ‘career decision’ like becoming a doctor or a policeman. You don’t choose it so much as get chosen, and once you accept the fact that you’re not fit for anything else, you have to be prepared to walk a long, hard road for the rest of your days (Paul Auster Quotes) Even in New York, there are a lot of very attractive girls pedaling around. That just happens to be one of the nice sights in our city, seeing a young woman on a bike (Paul Auster Quotes) I believe that the whole idea of the consumer society is tottering. We’ve kept ourselves going by producing more and more goods, most of which people don’t need. I’m anti-consumerism; I own four pairs of black Levis and that’s it (Paul Auster Quotes) I don’t think of myself as a metafictional writer at all. I think of myself as a classic writer, a realist writer, who tends to have flights of fancy at times, but nevertheless, my feet are mostly on the ground (Paul Auster Quotes) I write the paragraph, then I’m crossing out, changing words, trying to improve it. When it seems more or less OK, then I type it up because sometimes it’s almost illegible, and if I wait, I might not be able to read it the next day (Paul Auster Quotes) The book that convinced me I wanted to be a writer was ‘Crime and Punishment’. I put the thing down after reading it in a fever over two or three days... I said, ‘If this is what a book can be, then that is what I want to do.’ (Paul Auster Quotes) What used to keep me up at night was the fact that I didn’t know how I was going to pay the rent. Now that I can pay the rent, I’m worrying about people I care about, you know, the people I love. The little aches and pains of my children that I, my family. That’s always first (Paul Auster Quotes) Reading, at the deepest level, is a physical experience. Most people are not attuned to this, most people don’t learn how to read - poetry for example, or high-quality prose. They’re used to reading magazines and newspapers, which are only of the mind, but not of the body (Paul Auster Quotes) Autobiographical writings, essays, interviews, various other things... All the non-fiction prose I wanted to keep, that was the idea behind this collected volume, which came out about few years ago. I didn’t think of Winter Journal, for example, as an autobiography, or a memoir. What it is is a literary work, composed of autobiographical fragments, but trying to attain, I hope, the effect of music (Paul Auster Quotes) There’s a difference between doing memoir and writing a novel. If I had put the story of the boy killing my dog - and that was Eric also, what a little monster he was! - in a novel, even if I took it directly from life, it would be fiction (Paul Auster Quotes) I’m not a boy-writer, I’ve never been. I wanted to be a boy-writer when I was young, and I think that held me back. I wanted to be very clever, and funny, but I’m not very clever and not terribly funny. I’ve finally accepted my limits, and I do what I can do (Paul Auster Quotes) Most people just want to be part of the world, they want to live, love, and enjoy themselves - to take part in the world around them. Whereas artists are always retreating, locking the door, and inventing other worlds (Paul Auster Quotes) I was very moved to see that the name of the boat was Hamlet - an imaginary character becomes so important to people, we think about them so much that we name a ship after them. The imaginary lives on in the real (Paul Auster Quotes) There’s love, and certainly children you care about more than yourself. But nevertheless, we’re alone in our heads. (Paul Auster Quotes) Some like to think that a keen appreciation of art can actually make us better people - more just, more moral, more sensitive, more understanding. Perhaps that is true - in certain rare, isolated cases. (Paul Auster Quotes) Baseball is a universe as large as life itself, and therefore all things in life, whether good or bad, whether tragic or comic, fall within its domain. (Paul Auster Quotes) Changing your mind is probably one of the most beautiful things people can do. And I’ve changed my mind about a lot of things over the years. (Paul Auster Quotes) Children, I mean, think of your own childhood, how important the bedtime story was. How important these imaginary experiences were for you. They helped shape reality, and I think human beings wouldn’t be human without narrative fiction. (Paul Auster Quotes) I am very scared at the beginning of each book, because I’ve never written it before. I feel I have to teach myself how to do it. (Paul Auster Quotes) You have to protect it too, you can’t let just any stupid person take it and do something demoralizing with it. At the same time, I don’t believe in being so rigid about controlling what happens either. (Paul Auster Quotes)

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