Dogma is the guardian of mystery. The doctrines are spiritually significant in ways that we cannot fathom. — Flannery O'Connor Doctrine Copy Share Image
“Most things are beyond me," Block said. "I ain't found anything yet that I thoroughly understood,” — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
Right now the whole world seems to be going through a dark night of the soul. — Flannery O'Connor Dark Copy Share Image
... the novelist is bound by the reasonable possibilities, not the probabilities, of his culture. — Flannery O'Connor Bounds Copy Share Image
Faith is what someone knows to be true, whether they believe it or not. — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
She was a good Christian woman with a large respect for religion, though she did not, of course, believe any of it… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
If you're a Catholic you believe what the Church teaches and the climate makes no difference. — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
Knowing who you are is good for one generation only. You haven't the foggiest idea where you stand now or who you… — Flannery O'Connor Generation Copy Share Image
“Thomas had inherited his father’s reason without his ruthlessness and his mother’s love of good without her tendency to pursue it. His… — Flannery O'Connor Love Copy Share Image
“I'm always highly irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is a plunge into reality… — Flannery O'Connor Escape from reality Copy Share Image
“[Writing about her address to a ladies club]: The heart of my message to them was that they would all fry in… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
All my stories are about the action of grace on a character who is not very willing to support it, but most… — Flannery O'Connor Action Copy Share Image
“The writer can choose what he writes about but he cannot choose what he is able to make live, and so far… — Flannery O'Connor Writer Copy Share Image
It is always difficult to get across to people who are not professional writers that a talent to write does not mean… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“In short, I am amenable to criticism, but only within the sphere of what I am trying to do; I will not… — Flannery O'Connor Amenable Copy Share Image
“She would have to be a saint because that was the occupation that included everything you could know; and yet she knew… — Flannery O'Connor Martyr Copy Share Image
There was a time when the average reader read a novel simply for the moral he could get out of it, and… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
I know well enough that very few people who are supposedly interested in writing are interested in writing well. They are interested… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“The girl had taken the Ph.D. in philosophy and this left Mrs. Hopewell at a complete loss. You could say, “My daughter… — Flannery O'Connor Children Copy Share Image
I am tired of reading reviews that call A Good Man brutal and sarcastic. The stories are hard but they are hard… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“Symbols are something [the writer] uses simply as a matter of course. You might say that theses are details that, while having… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
Manners are of such great consequence to the novelist that any kind will do. Bad manners are better than no manners at… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“I hope you don’t have friends who recommend Ayn Rand to you. The fiction of Ayn Rand is as low as you… — Flannery O'Connor Ayn-rand Copy Share Image
“People without hope do not write novels … [Writing fiction] is a plunge into reality and it’s very shocking to the system.… — Flannery O'Connor Books Copy Share Image
Anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days. — Flannery O'Connor Childhood Copy Share Image
I am interested in making up a good case for distortion, as I am coming to believe it is the only way… — Flannery O'Connor Copy Share Image
“No one can be an atheist who does not know all things. Only God is an atheist.” — Flannery O'Connor Atheist Copy Share Image
![“[Writing about her address to a ladies club]: The heart of my message to them was that they would all fry in Hell if they didn't quit reading trash.” quote by Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/73b/flannery-o-connor-639_reading-trash_writing-about-her-address-to-a-ladies-cl_1736199.png)
![“Symbols are something [the writer] uses simply as a matter of course. You might say that theses are details that, while having their essential place in the literal level of the story, operate in depth as well as on the surface, increasing the story in every direction … the truer the symbol, the…” quote by Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/fe7/flannery-o-connor-639_symbol_symbols-are-something-the-writer-uses-si_1791562.jpg)
![“People without hope do not write novels … [Writing fiction] is a plunge into reality and it’s very shocking to the system. If the novelist is not sustained by a hope of money, then he must be sustained by a hope of salvation, or he simply won’t survive the ordeal.” quote by Flannery O'Connor](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/225/flannery-o-connor-639_books_people-without-hope-do-not-write-novels_903687.png)
