---
title: "1 Beings Animals Quotes By Steven Millhauser"
description: "1 Beings Animals quotes by Steven Millhauser. Plus more from Steven Millhauser and more Beings Animals sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e3/steven-millhauser-16834_able_that-afternoon-he-told-me-that-the-diffe_2006180.png"
---

> [That afternoon he told me that the difference between human beings and animals was that human beings were able to dream while awake. He said the purpose of books was to permit us to exercise that faculty. Art, he said,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/that-afternoon-he-told-me-that-the-difference-between-human-beings/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1e3/steven-millhauser-16834_able_that-afternoon-he-told-me-that-the-diffe_2006180.png)

## More by Steven Millhauser

> [But what struck me was the book-madness of the place--books lay scattered across the unmade bed and the top of a battered-looking desk, books…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/but-what-struck-me-was-the-book-madness-of-the-place-books-lay/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [I’m pleased by anything in myself that strikes me as not myself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/i-m-pleased-by-anything-in-myself-that-strikes-me-as-not-myself/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [“For what is genius, I ask you, but the capacity to be obsessed? ...We have all been geniuses, you and I; but sooner or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/for-what-is-genius-i-ask-you-but-the-capacity-to-be-obsessed-we-have/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [“A story with a single ending seems to us a bare and diminished thing, like a tree with a single branch; and each ending…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/a-story-with-a-single-ending-seems-to-us-a-bare-and-diminished-thing/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [His ambition was to insert his dreams into the world, and if they were the wrong dreams, then he would dream them in solitude.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/his-ambition-was-to-insert-his-dreams-into-the-world-and-if-they-were/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [“... now and again we would happen to step out of the familiar universe into a sudden sharp shock of sweetly scented air, sudden…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/now-and-again-we-would-happen-to-step-out-of-the-familiar-universe/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [“Martin thought of the iron El trestles winding and stretching across the city, of department store windows and hotel lobbies, of electric elevators and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/martin-thought-of-the-iron-el-trestles-winding-and-stretching-across/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [“Then solar systems, galaxies, supernovas, infinite space itself will become elements of a final masterwork--a never-ending festival, a celestial amusement park in which every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/then-solar-systems-galaxies-supernovas-infinite-space-itself-will/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [In the long dusks of summer we walked the suburban streets through scents of maple and cut grass, waiting for something to happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/in-the-long-dusks-of-summer-we-walked-the-suburban-streets-through/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [“... it is the purpose of this history to trace not the mere outlines of a life but the inner plan, not the external…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/it-is-the-purpose-of-this-history-to-trace-not-the-mere-outlines-of-a/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [“Others saw in the trend still another instance of a disturbing tendency in the American suburb: the longing for withdrawal, for self-enclosure, for expensive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/others-saw-in-the-trend-still-another-instance-of-a-disturbing/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [Stories, like conjuring tricks, are invented because history is inadequate for our dreams.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/stories-like-conjuring-tricks-are-invented-because-history-is/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [“I thought of myself, in those days, as someone in disguise—beneath the obedient son, beneath the straight-A student, the agreeable well-brought-up boy with his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/i-thought-of-myself-in-those-days-as-someone-in-disguise-beneath-the/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [We know nothing. Absolutely nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/we-know-nothing-absolutely-nothing/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

> [I saw that I was in danger of becoming ordinary, and I understood that from now on I would have to be vigilant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-millhauser/i-saw-that-i-was-in-danger-of-becoming-ordinary-and-i-understood-that/)

[Steven Millhauser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-millhauser/)

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