“His impunity thrills me, I mistake it for fearlessness, though years later he will admit to being afraid all the time.” — Nick Flynn Fearlessness Copy Share Image
Our job as writers, as far as I can tell, is to attempt to express what seems inexpressible. — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
There are many ways to drown, only the most obvious wave their arms as they're going under. — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
“He claims not to be drinking, but I don’t think he knows what this means.” — Nick Flynn Drinking Copy Share Image
Water can be a symbol of purification, to stand naked before someone a sign of truth, of nothing to hide. - Nick… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
Read as much as you can. Write only when you feel the inner need to do so. And don’t ever rush into… — Nick Flynn Books Copy Share Image
Here's a secret: Everyone, if they live long enough, will lose their way at some point. You will lose your way; you… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
Certain stories we carry with us, events in our life, they define who we are. It's not a matter of getting over… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
The only strategy I know of is to write every day, which I don't always do, because sometimes I just can't, for… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
If you're going to write about someone's life, you don't just use them for wallpaper. You have to honor and respect that… — Nick Flynn Honor Copy Share Image
“we fill the nothing with suns, line them up, swallow sap, swallow field, drop by drop, each stem a pump. Rose to… — Nick Flynn Flowers Copy Share Image
When I was a child, writing was the worst possible choice of a career in my family. My father had always identified… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
The first book I could call mine, my first book, was a picture book, 'The Magic Monkey' - it was adapted from… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
That's the thing about a book: You're in the public life for a little bit, and then you sort of go away… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
“If not for the rats you could crawl beneath a bush. A bush. A bench. The alliterative universe. Rats too can pass… — Nick Flynn Poetic Copy Share Image
Perhaps it is our fear, that in the silence between stories, in the moment of falling, the fear that we will never… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
It takes an entire book to tell you what it was like. To see Robert De Niro play your father - it's… — Nick Flynn Amazing Copy Share Image
Some part of me knew he would show up, that if I stood in one place long enough he would find me,… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
“When I was really drunk, I started that stupid business with the bullet in my guts again. I was the only guy… — Nick Flynn Business Copy Share Image
By the time I make my way to the border of Mauritania, to the edge of the Sahara, I see no end… — Nick Flynn Borders Copy Share Image
Memoir is actually the most egoless genre, even though it might seem ostensibly so much ego-driven. In order for it to succeed,… — Nick Flynn Autobiographical Copy Share Image
In my experience, whatever happens clings to us like barnacles on the hull of a ship, slowing us slightly, both uglifying and… — Nick Flynn Barnacles Copy Share Image
“If it had been a heart attack, the newspaper might have used the word massive , as if a mountain range had… — Nick Flynn Death Copy Share Image
“Many fathers are gone. Some leave, some are left. Some return, unknown and hungry. Only the dog remembers.” — Nick Flynn Fathers Copy Share Image
What I do is write, and I try to write as closely as I can into what I call 'the mystery.' — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
There's this sort of male energy that we have that can seem very destructive. But it doesn't have to be. It actually… — Nick Flynn Copy Share Image
We got him to talk to a psych doctor once, the doctor asked if he heard things other people don't. Sure, Paul… — Nick Flynn Bird Copy Share Image
What you fear your whole life comes to pass. You end up living toward it, you spend your life running from it… — Nick Flynn Circles Copy Share Image
“Aside from these infrequent outbursts he possesses the gentle demeanor that sometimes trails the newly sober, that deep acceptance that comes with… — Nick Flynn Demeanor Copy Share Image
There is a physics to the world, which non-fiction has a contract to stand in awe of, otherwise it becomes completely self-centered… — Nick Flynn Awe Copy Share Image
Alcohol is the river we sit on the banks of, contemplating. Sometimes we watch ourselves float past, sometimes we watch ourselves sink. — Nick Flynn Alcohol Copy Share Image
In life you get one take, and it's perfect. It's strange, afterwards you might think I shouldn't have reacted that way, but… — Nick Flynn Life Copy Share Image
I'm not sure why working at a homeless shelter made sense to me, except that I needed to immerse myself in some… — Nick Flynn Cage Copy Share Image
