Stanley Elkin

I would never write about anyone who is not at the end of his rope.

— Stanley Elkin

The peculiar dignity of men seen eating alone in restaurants on national holidays

— Stanley Elkin

“I say “every so often” but it’s more frequent than that.”

— Stanley Elkin

The furthest out is the only place to be.

— Stanley Elkin

“It’s like everything else. The price of Torahs is higher in Alaska.”

— Stanley Elkin

“Not just the celibacy thing but because he has God’s ear, a line on the mysteries. That’s impressive to girls.”

— Stanley Elkin

Life's tallest order is to keep the feelings up, to make two dollars' worth of euphoria go the distance. And life can't…

— Stanley Elkin

I don't believe less is more. I believe that more is more. I believe that less is less, fat fat, thin thin…

— Stanley Elkin

Like a lot of what happens in novels, inspiration is a sort of spontaneous combustion--the oily rags of the head and heart.

— Stanley Elkin

It's fine, precise, detailed work, the infinitely small motor management of diamond cutters and safecrackers that we do in our heads.

— Stanley Elkin

Writing is an exercise in sculpture, chipping away at the rock until you find the nose.

— Stanley Elkin

“Because all books ARE the Book of Job -- man in the crucible like Jack in the Box…”

— Stanley Elkin

But it's hard to talk about art. Maybe there should be a law against it, some First Amendment gag order like crying…

— Stanley Elkin

“Even the sky a hybrid — here clean and black and starred, there roiling with a brusque signature of cloud or piled…

— Stanley Elkin

Like most people of my generation, I fell in love with the philosophy of existentialism. There is no particular religious tradition in…

— Stanley Elkin

“There’s something comforting, almost soothing, about realism, and it’s nothing to do with shocks of recognition — well it wouldn’t, since shocks…

— Stanley Elkin