[Mark] Twain is pointing at you. You, the reader of the…

“I have often been mildly amused when I think that the great American novel was not written about New England or Chicago. It was…

— James A. Michener

These self-appointed deacons in the Church of Latter-Day American Literature seem to regard generosity (of words) with suspicion, texture with dislike, and any broad…

— Stephen King

I have no doubt that 'On the Road' is a Great American Novel. But I'm also certain my students will do fine without it.

— Tony D'Souza

Of course I planned to write the Great American Novel; that lasted about a week, at which point I decided I had nothing to…

— Jasmine Cresswell

I don't think everyone wants to create the great American novel, but we all have a dream of telling our stories-of realizing what we…

— Natalie Goldberg

It’s Fitzgerald’s thin-but-durable urge to affirm that finally makes Gatsby worthy of being our Great American Novel. Its soaring conclusion tells us that, even…

— Maureen Corrigan

In the great city of San Francisco, where I used to live, at 2 in the morning every other Victorian house has somebody who…

— Tom Peters

People think that they will sit down and produce the great American novel in one sitting. It doesn't work that way. This is a…

— Isabel Allende

You don't sit up in a cave and write the Great American Novel and know it is utterly superb, and then throw it page…

— Theodore Sturgeon

Dreiser wanted to write the next great American novel, and his desperation pervades [ Sister Carrie ] like an unsavory pit stain.

— Theodore Dreiser

I know a lot of writers who would much rather be writing the Great American Novel, but they've got bills to pay and alimony,…

— Eric Stoltz

I was saving the name of 'Geisel' for the Great American Novel.

— Dr. Seuss

“Great American Novel” = ”doorstop of a book, usually pretentious, written by a man.”

— Lionel Shriver

My father was a frustrated writer. I think he wanted to write the great American novel.

— Anne Waldman

This is, if not a lifetime process, it's awfully close to it. The writer broadens, becomes deeper, becomes more observant, becomes more tempered, becomes…

— Rod Serling