The terror of the unforeseen is what the science of history hides, turning a disaster into an epic. — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
Everyone becomes a part of history whether they like it or not and whether they know it or not. — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
It isn't that you subordinate your ideas to the force of the facts in autobiography but that you construct a sequence of… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
Turned the wrong way around, the relentless unforeseen was what we schoolchildren studied in "History", harmless history, where everything unexpected in its… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“And as Lindbergh's election couldn't have made clearer to me, the unfolding of the unforeseen was everything. Turned wrong way round, the… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
Teaching ... particularly in the 1990s, teaching what is far and away the dumbest generation in American history, is the same as… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“It’s as though not even that most basic level of imaginative thought had been admitted into consciousness to cause the slightest disturbance.… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“Doctor Spielvogel, it alleviates nothing fixing the blame - blaming is still ailing, of course, of course - but nonetheless, what was… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“This place where she worked certainly didn't make it look as if she continued to believe her calling was to change the… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“The old intergenerational give-and-take of the country-that-used-to-be, when everyone knew his role and took the rules dead seriously, the acculturating back-and-forth that all of… — Philip Roth Copy Share
You be greater than your feelings. I don't demand this of you - life does. Otherwise you'll be washed away by feelings. You'll be… — Philip Roth Copy Share
The only way to have a funeral is to invite everyone who ever knew the person and just wait for the accident to happen-somebody… — Philip Roth Copy Share
To become a celebrity is to become a brand name. There is Ivory Soap, Rice Krispies, and Philip Roth. Ivory is the soap that… — Philip Roth Copy Share
“There are no reasons. She is obliged to be as she is. We all are. Reasons are in books.” — Philip Roth Copy Share
“As far as I can see there is no conquering or exorcising the past with words - words born either of imagination or forthrightness.” — Philip Roth Copy Share
“What is astonishing is that we, who had no idea how anything was going to turn out, now know exactly what happened.” — Philip Roth Copy Share
“Good Christ, a Jewish man with parents alive is a fifteen-year-old boy, and will remain a fifteen-year-old boy till they die!” — Philip Roth Copy Share
“Better for real things to be uncontrollable, better for one's life to be undecipherable and intellectually impenetrable than to attempt to make casual sense… — Philip Roth Copy Share
“Doctor Spielvogel, it alleviates nothing fixing the blame - blaming is still ailing, of course, of course - but nonetheless, what was it with… — Philip Roth Copy Share
My God! The English language is a form of communication! Conversation isn't just crossfire where you shoot and get shot at! Where you've got… — Philip Roth Copy Share
You asked if I thought my fiction had changed anything in the culture and the answer is no. Sure, there's been some scandal, but… — Philip Roth Copy Share
