Anne Tyler

“For me, writing was the only way out.”

— Anne Tyler

“She had no patience with foreign accents.”

— Anne Tyler

“It was ridiculous of her to feel so wounded.”

— Anne Tyler

“house, no bigger than a box of notecards. The”

— Anne Tyler

When I read, I'm purely a reader

— Anne Tyler

When you have children, you're obligated to live.

— Anne Tyler

... everyone must play his role.

— Anne Tyler

I spend about a year between novels

— Anne Tyler

Sooner or later, even the sharpest pain became flattened.

— Anne Tyler

When I'm working on something, I proceed as if no one else will ever read it.

— Anne Tyler

People always call it luck when you've acted more sensibly than they have.

— Anne Tyler

“But my family's passing came so sudden. Left me strap-hanging in empty space, like.”

— Anne Tyler

She was good at talking with young people. She seemed to view them as interesting foreigners.

— Anne Tyler

In real life I avoid all parties altogether, but on paper I can mingle with the best of them

— Anne Tyler

Something was wrong with a world where people came and went so easily.

— Anne Tyler

I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get

— Anne Tyler

I consciously try to end my novels at a point where I won't have to wonder about my characters ever again.

— Anne Tyler

“That was one of the worst things about losing your wife, I found: your wife is the very person you want to…

— Anne Tyler

View your burden as a gift. It's the theme that has been given you to work with. Accept that and lean into…

— Anne Tyler

“At this moment (letting a breeze ripple through her fingers like warm water), Maggie felt that the entire business of time's passing…

— Anne Tyler

“This is a specific person, do you understand? Not just some patient . I want to make sure you realize that.”

— Anne Tyler

“It was Serena who'd said that motherhood was much too hard and, when you got right down to it, perhaps not worth…

— Anne Tyler

It's true that writing is a solitary occupation, but you would be surprised at how much companionship a group of imaginary characters…

— Anne Tyler

People always talked about a mother's uncanny ability to read her children, but that was nothing compared to how children could read…

— Anne Tyler

We stay in the house so much because I am waiting for the telephone. I seem to be back in my teens,…

— Anne Tyler

The first-person viewpoint is more enjoyable to write, because it lets me meander more freely, and it can reveal more of the…

— Anne Tyler

“Disaster followed disaster... the hero stuck in there, though. Macon had long ago noticed that all adventure movies had the same moral:…

— Anne Tyler

“He saw millions of houses, viewed from an airplane, and every couchc in every tiny house was occupied by someone from yet…

— Anne Tyler

“I think if you knew them well enough, if you'd listened to them closely enough while they were still alive, you might…

— Anne Tyler

“When you come [to a baseball game] in person, you direct your own focus, you know? The TV or the radio men,…

— Anne Tyler

“It seemed they viewed her differently now. She had status. She mattered. All at once they were interested in what she had…

— Anne Tyler

Liam really enjoyed a good movie. He found it restful to watch people's conversations without being expected to join in. But he…

— Anne Tyler

My cousin Roger once told me, on the eve of his third wedding, that he felt marriage was addictive. Then he corrected…

— Anne Tyler

“When I am away from Sandhill, sometimes the picture of it comes drifting toward me- just the picture of it, like some…

— Anne Tyler

“You ever wonder what a Martian might think if he happened to land near an emergency room? He’d see an ambulance whizzing…

— Anne Tyler

“All those things we used to promise ourselves we'd never, ever do when we grew up. Like we promised we wouldn't mince…

— Anne Tyler

“Everything,' his father said, 'comes down to time in the end--to the passing of time, to changing. Ever thought of that? Anything…

— Anne Tyler

“My friend Luke told me once that he’d been considering my question about whether the dead ever visit. It was true that…

— Anne Tyler

“Now look: Droplets of oil were dotted across the front of her best dress, over the mound of her stomach. She was…

— Anne Tyler

“Always have a purpose,' his father used to tell him. 'Act like you're heading someplace purposeful, and none of the low-life will…

— Anne Tyler