Joshua Ferris

“Layoffs were upon us. They had been rumored for months, but now it was official. If you were lucky, you could sue.…

— Joshua Ferris

“They were like two inviolable spheres touching at a fine point in their curves, touching but failing to penetrate, failing to breathe…

— Joshua Ferris

“...she had the conviction of the newly converted, which wouldn't last forever, but would for the moment brook no discouragement or allow…

— Joshua Ferris

One thing that I discovered about myself is I really don't like traveling. I feel like it's a terrible personal failing, but…

— Joshua Ferris

We told him to get on with it. We liked wasting time, but almost nothing was more annoying than having our wasted…

— Joshua Ferris

We suffered failures of imagination just like everyone else, our daring was wanting, and our daily contentment too nearly adequate for us…

— Joshua Ferris

“Freedom of religion in America is all fine and good until you start believing in nothing, and then it is a crime…

— Joshua Ferris

“Where does this idea of greater connection come from? I’ve never in my life felt more disconnected. It’s like how the rich…

— Joshua Ferris

Comedy is like fictional charm. It's the charm of fiction. Or the charisma of fiction. When you meet somebody who's immediately charismatic,…

— Joshua Ferris

The people at the very top could fall by and grace you with their presence and give you a little largesse, and…

— Joshua Ferris

Between the time I first started working in advertising in 1998 and now, the word brand has replaced identity. We are no…

— Joshua Ferris

There were times where I felt I was pressing a little bit too hard with the humor, and I had to pull…

— Joshua Ferris

Sometimes you have to make decisions that necessarily exclude the collective. It's more difficult to be a friend - even though they…

— Joshua Ferris

Why shouldn't it be that way for the rest of us? Why not just go with it? Just walk the dog and…

— Joshua Ferris

The internet takes a lot of the anxiety of life away. It's a kind of deity. You're never lonely. You're always distracted.…

— Joshua Ferris

“I was already at one remove before the Internet came along. I need another remove? Now I have to spend the time…

— Joshua Ferris

“I think that there have been displays of an impoverished reading of the book. I get the distinct feeling at times that…

— Joshua Ferris

“Mrs. Convoy leaned into the desk, flattening her knuckles on it like a linebacker bracing against the hard earth, and with eyeballs…

— Joshua Ferris

Names generate meaning in a short amount of space — they provoke thoughts, questions. That's something I like doing. Of course, you…

— Joshua Ferris

I always knew from the beginning that this was the only way to write Then We Came To The End - that…

— Joshua Ferris

I'm not sure that all books aren't that way. I think that might apply to any book I was writing. The book…

— Joshua Ferris

I think a fairly common behavior among fiction writers is that they want to help. They're generally charitable people. They're interested in…

— Joshua Ferris

I think one of the ways you avoid being angry is to avoid being angry at the people in power. They might…

— Joshua Ferris

I think if there hadn't been the one passage of the book that mostly abandons the humor, and focuses very intently on…

— Joshua Ferris

“People have all this resentment against their parents for fucking them up, but they never realize, the minute they have a kid,…

— Joshua Ferris

Some days felt longer than other days. Some days felt like two whole days. Unfortunately those days were never weekend days. Our…

— Joshua Ferris

I don't write directly on to the computer because I don't think well facing forward with fingers on a keyboard. I think…

— Joshua Ferris

“He stood just inside the door and took stock. Everything in it had been taken for granted. How had that happened again?…

— Joshua Ferris

The whole time I was writing, I had to fight my normal inclination to be funny, to sort of patch humor in,…

— Joshua Ferris

“I content myself with the fact that the general system of our trade is a system of selfishness, is not dictated by…

— Joshua Ferris

I can't trace thematic similarities between Then We Came To The End and The Unnamed to a life event; I think it's…

— Joshua Ferris

“It wasn’t as absurd a notion as it might sound. Some days, time passed way too slowly here, other days far too…

— Joshua Ferris

A child, thought Carl, is not the only result of childbirth. A mother, too, is born. You see them every day--nondescript women…

— Joshua Ferris

The thing is, for me, as a fiction writer, I don't think there's a finer testament to our lives than this thing…

— Joshua Ferris