Thinking Quotes by George Saunders

The artist’s job, I think, is to be a conduit for mystery.

— George Saunders

I think that fiction has a part to play in urging us, as a species, toward compassion,

— George Saunders

A person supporting [Donald]Trump likes Trump. And I think they would say the same about me.

— George Saunders

Sometimes I think fiction exists to model the way God might think of us, if God had the time and inclination to…

— George Saunders

I'm always aware of writing around things I can't do, and I've come to think that that's actually what 'style' is -…

— George Saunders

If I'm writing a story and you're reading it, or vice versa, you took time out of your day to pick up…

— George Saunders

I think kindness is a sort of gateway virtue - having that simple aspiration can get you into deep water very quickly…

— George Saunders

I think people have come to expect that in artistic representation; that every work of art should be a work of extravagant…

— George Saunders

The demographics are changing - and so what? Citizenship is a question of certain agreed-upon values and that is that. Do we…

— George Saunders

I think it was a big revelation to me earlier in my life that people who appear to be evil are actually…

— George Saunders

I think this is the other big issue that is not going away: Do we really believe that bit in the Constitution…

— George Saunders

I think in our time, you know, so much of the information we get is pre-polarized. Fiction has a way of reminding…

— George Saunders

The writer has to make pleasure for the reader - which, I think, is done by taking one's character's seriously and taking…

— George Saunders

What really interests me, on a deeper level, is how our information is coming to us in some kind of messed up…

— George Saunders

I came away believing and really deeply troubled by is the extent to which you can have two well-intentioned people talking in…

— George Saunders

I keep thinking of Robert Stone making the distinction between the word sublime and the word beautiful. He described being in a…

— George Saunders

I often think about image, and image is something that - but in truth, the real artistic process, as I've understood it,…

— George Saunders

I sometimes imagine a great writer as a sort of God-surrogate: the writer is doing his or her human-best to emulate what…

— George Saunders

I think it is time for a new pride in the intellectual life, and a new impatience with people who take pride…

— George Saunders

I say yes to the hot bath and the sandwich - to getting ourselves into the best possible mental shape to identify…

— George Saunders

The weird thing was that I went to Trump rallies thinking I was going to run into militant, right wing, racist people…

— George Saunders

One of the things I noticed about the Trump supporters was a lot of projected fear. I can't tell you how many…

— George Saunders

If I'm writing a story and you're reading it, or vice versa, you took time out of your day to pick up…

— George Saunders

A sort of fearlessness - the notion that a person could be comfortable with (even interested in) whatever arises. I sure can't…

— George Saunders

One lesson I learned the hard way, early in my career, was that if I tried to write to be smart or…

— George Saunders

My general approach to writing fiction is that you try to have as few conceptual notions as possible and you just respond…

— George Saunders

I think each writer has to seek her most energetic prose style. She has to find a way to write so that…

— George Saunders

When you talk about a reader being emotionally moved, a feeling of empathy, I think that comes out of that line-by-line respect…

— George Saunders

If you think of a work of fiction as a kind of scale model of the world, then the positive valences -…

— George Saunders

I think the biggest single issue is income inequity and what this is doing to the good old "American dream." This and…

— George Saunders

I think if someone could demonstrate to me that fiction did no good, I would still do it, because I think it…

— George Saunders

I think when you get to export your creative impulse into something, it kind of lessens that busy energy that can be…

— George Saunders

We have to move toward specificity, intelligence, facts, proof, and mutual affection. What I think people have to do now is be…

— George Saunders

Ralph Kramden, as played by Jackie Gleason, was this big bumbling New York City bus driver who was kind of mean and…

— George Saunders

I think the wave of social media rejection is coming. I think there will be a big reaction against it. It's just…

— George Saunders

I think it's basically the same game, although with a public figure like [Donald] Trump I think you are bound to consider…

— George Saunders

Maybe you could even think 100,000 people are inside each human being. And you drop a novel on that person, and a…

— George Saunders

I think when you see [Donald] Trump in person, my reaction is you kind of enjoy it. It's kind of an enjoyable…

— George Saunders

When I think about what fiction does morally, I'm happier thinking of a person full of multiplicities - sort of fragmented.

— George Saunders

I think that's one of the maybe under-discussed aspects of process - the difference between a good writing day and a bad…

— George Saunders