Because I'm not writing all the time (thank goodness), my mind is sometimes pleasantly blank. — Lydia Davis Copy Share Image
“But at the time I had that strange confidence, born of watching a good movie, that I could be something different from… — Lydia Davis Copy Share Image
To be simple, I would say a story has to have a bit of narrative, if only "she says," and then enough… — Lydia Davis Copy Share Image
“But at other times, I sit here reading in the afternoon, a myrtle in my buttonhole, and there are such beautiful passages… — Lydia Davis Copy Share Image
“Can’t you agree with me about anything?” asks the Grouch. Old Mother has to admit it: she almost always disagrees with him.… — Lydia Davis Copy Share Image
“it occurs to me that I must not know altogether what I am, either, and that others know certain things about me… — Lydia Davis Copy Share Image
The moment when a limit is reached, when there is nothing ahead but darkness: something comes in to help that is not… — Lydia Davis Copy Share Image
“Looking back at that evening was almost better than experiencing it the first time, because it did not go faster than I… — Lydia Davis Copy Share Image
“The fact that he does not tell me the truth all the time makes me not sure of his truth at certain… — Lydia Davis Copy Share Image
“A true nothing is not competitive. But I don't think I'm being competitive when I say it. I am feeling truly humble,… — Lydia Davis Copy Share Image
“What was happening to them was that every bad time produced a bad feeling that in turn produced several more bad times… — Lydia Davis Copy Share Image
“Everything was sharper, clearer, and closer, as though, before, I had been seeing only little bits at a time, not all of… — Lydia Davis Copy Share Image
Heart weeps. Head tries to help heart. Head tells heart how it is, again: You will lose the ones you love. They will all… — Lydia Davis Copy Share
“But on that particular day I did not even begin to feel interested in this chore, and was suddenly more deeply bored than I… — Lydia Davis Copy Share
If a translation doesn't have obvious writing problems, it may seem quite all right at first glance. We readers, after all, quickly adapt to… — Lydia Davis Copy Share
I always interrupt work with other work, either in a small way or big way, so that's normal. — Lydia Davis Copy Share
I worked more intensively hour after hour when I was starting out [writing]. More laboriously. I'd say quantity is important as well as quality,… — Lydia Davis Copy Share
I don't feel I have to struggle against allegory. I let the readers do the interpreting. — Lydia Davis Copy Share
“because she couldn’t write the name of what she was: a wa wam owm owamn womn” — Lydia Davis Copy Share
“Everything was sharper, clearer, and closer, as though, before, I had been seeing only little bits at a time, not all of it, of… — Lydia Davis Copy Share
“He did not know exactly when to thank his hostess after attending a dinner or a weekend party. In his uncertainty, he would thank… — Lydia Davis Copy Share
“There was no confusion of our bodies. I knew which arm was his and which mine, and which leg, and which shoulder. I did… — Lydia Davis Copy Share
“So it’s not really $100 a shot because it goes on all day, from the start when you wake up and feel her body… — Lydia Davis Copy Share
“The people of the town, though, remained strangers: I could not realize that I must be seeing some of them over and over again,… — Lydia Davis Copy Share
“He does not trust her: she will claim to be in a bad mood when she is not, and then require him to be… — Lydia Davis Copy Share
I would recommend, definitely, developing a 'day job' that you like - don't expect to make money writing! — Lydia Davis Copy Share
the translator, a lonely sort of acrobat, becomes confused in a labyrinth of paradox, or climbs a pyramid of dependent clauses and has to… — Lydia Davis Copy Share
