“It was the exact combination of the ephemeral and the eternal that a dying man needed to know about.” — Jane Smiley Death Copy Share Image
Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book. — Jane Smiley Book Copy Share Image
Progressivism is usually seen as a stepping back from individualism into a progressive community... — Jane Smiley Community Copy Share Image
The one thing ... maybe no family could tolerate was things coming out into the open. — Jane Smiley Coming out Copy Share Image
“The novel is, above all, an intense experience of prolonged intimacy with another consciousness.” — Jane Smiley Books Copy Share Image
Good intentions are wicked! As far as I can see, all they lead to are lies and delusions. — Jane Smiley Delusion Copy Share Image
Americans took a great deal too much credit for creating wealth, when most of the time they had really just been living… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
There are several methods for introducing your children to driving, and all of them are bad. Probably the worst is to put… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
'The Good Soldier' is an odd and maybe even unique book. That it is a masterpiece, almost a perfect novel, comes as… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
If there's anything Trollope novels always take seriously, it is money - how it flows from one character to another, how it… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
In my experience, there is only one motivation, and that is desire. No reasons or principle contain it or stand against it. — Jane Smiley Desire Copy Share Image
“I dream about standing in the lunch line naked. It's always the lunch line in ninth grade. Nakedness dreams are very common.… — Jane Smiley Dream Copy Share Image
Some novelists are luckier than others in the eras of their formative intellectual years, but all Weltanschauungs return, which means that most… — Jane Smiley Chance Copy Share Image
Because your goal is a complete rough draft of a novel, and every rough draft, by being complete, is perfect. — Jane Smiley Goal Copy Share Image
'Lean on Pete' is the story of a boy and his horse, but it is never heart-warming - it ranges in tone… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Why are we reading a Shakespeare play or 'Huckleberry Finn?' Well, because these works are great, but they also tell us something… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“She was almost sixty and she had not been to London, or Paris, or Rome, and there was no going there now.… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Every novel deals with social problems. It can't help it because the protagonist must come in conflict with his group. So the… — Jane Smiley Analysis Copy Share Image
“The real mystery was how your farm bound you to it, so tightly that you would pay any price (literally, in interest)… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Is human nature basically good or evil? No economist can embark upon his profession without considering this question, and yet they all… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
One of the things that Ivar knew about Mrs. Walker was that she would only tell him what she knew if he… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
I was asked by an editor to consider writing something about an American inventor. I asked him if he knew who invented… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
How will you know a good farmer when you meet him? He will not ask you for any favors. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Your sons weren't made to like you. That's what grandchildren are for. — Jane Smiley Children Copy Share Image
“It is hard to know whether an air of self-confidence precedes or follows success.” — Jane Smiley Confidence Copy Share Image
Sinclair Lewis may be ripe for a revival; his books raise several interesting issues of art and fashion. — Jane Smiley Art Copy Share Image
In his 30 years of broadcasting and publishing fiction, Garrison Keillor has set the laugh bar pretty high. — Jane Smiley Bar Copy Share Image
As soon as you bring up money, I notice, conversation gets sociological, then political, then moral. — Jane Smiley Communication Copy Share Image
The desire to write a novel is the single required prerequisite for writing a novel. — Jane Smiley Books Copy Share Image
Gossip. The more you talk about why people do things, the more ideas you have about how the world works. — Jane Smiley Gossip Copy Share Image
A novelist is on the cusp between someone who knows everything and someone who knows nothing. — Jane Smiley Cusp Copy Share Image
“Almonds. Apricots. Avocadoes. Some peaches I don't know. Grapefruit. Lemones. Probably oranges.” — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
A love story, at least a convincing one, requires three elements - the lover, the beloved, and the adventures they have together. — Jane Smiley Adventure Copy Share Image
“If living is to progress, if you are lucky, from foolishness to wisdom, then to write novels is to broadcast the various… — Jane Smiley Books Copy Share Image
“War is inevitable when the world is fallen. If you stop one, another will start. Redemption is the only path away from… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Write every day, just to keep in the habit, and remember that whatever you have written is neither as good nor as… — Jane Smiley Day Copy Share Image
