Jonathan Franzen

Walter had never liked cats. They'd seemed to him the sociopaths of the pet world, a species domesticated as an evil necessary…

— Jonathan Franzen

“It was true that Al had asked her to move the jars and magazines, and there was probably a word for the…

— Jonathan Franzen

THE CORRECTION, when it finally came, was not an overnight bursting of a bubble but a much more gentle letdown, a year-long…

— Jonathan Franzen

“Not just Negroponte, who doesn't like to read, but even Birkerts, who thinks that history is ending, underestimates the instability of society…

— Jonathan Franzen

“It was this motley band of modest peeps and plovers on the beach who reminded me of the human beings I loved…

— Jonathan Franzen

“It was clear to everyone that day, and in the months that followed, that Patty’s greatest warming influence was on Walter himself.…

— Jonathan Franzen

“If you choose to spend an hour every day tinkering with your Facebook profile, or if you don’t see any difference between…

— Jonathan Franzen

“I had started keeping a journal, and I was discovering that I didn't need school in order to experience the misery of…

— Jonathan Franzen

You could slap his wrist for saying it, but then he said it with his face, and you could spank him for…

— Jonathan Franzen

“There was something almost tasty and almost sexy in letting the annoying boy be punished by her husband. In standing blamelessly aside…

— Jonathan Franzen

Family's the one thing you can't change. You can cover yourself with tattoos. You can get a grapefruit-sized ring going through your…

— Jonathan Franzen

“But what do we expect will become of students, successfully cocooned from uncomfortable feelings, once they leave the sanctuary of academe for…

— Jonathan Franzen

“Once or twice every night, serving dinner at the big round table, Enid glanced over her shoulder and caught him looking, and…

— Jonathan Franzen

And when the event, the big change in your life, is simply an insight-- isn't that a strange thing? That absolutely nothing…

— Jonathan Franzen

Patty knew, in her heart, that he was wrong in his impression of her. And the mistake she went to go on…

— Jonathan Franzen

“You can all supply your own favorite, most nauseating examples of the commodification of love. Mine include the wedding industry, TV ads…

— Jonathan Franzen

Love is about bottomless empathy, born out of the heart’s revelation that another person is every bit as real as you are.…

— Jonathan Franzen

“I think the iPod is the true face of Republican politics, and I’m in favor of the music industry … standing up…

— Jonathan Franzen

“depression was a successful adaptation to ceaseless pain and hardship [...] feeling bad all the time and expecting the worst had been…

— Jonathan Franzen

“I had started keeping a journal, and I was discovering that I didn't need school in order to experience the misery of…

— Jonathan Franzen

“It’s all circling around the same problem of personal liberties,” Walter said. “People came to this country for either money or freedom.…

— Jonathan Franzen

“Although in general Gary applauded the modern trend toward individual self-management of retirement funds and long-distance calling plans and private-schooling options, he…

— Jonathan Franzen

If you read the biographies of people who have written good books, you often see the point where they suddenly come into…

— Jonathan Franzen

“Parents are programmed to want the best for their kids, regardless of what they get in return. That's what love is supposed…

— Jonathan Franzen

“Oh, misanthropy and sourness. Gary wanted to enjoy being a man of wealth and leisure, but the country was making it none…

— Jonathan Franzen