There are books that I read years ago that enlivened things in me that haven't died yet. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
One of the ideas that runs through this book [Lincoln in the Bardo] is this Buddhist notion that the mind is incredibly… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I knew if I evoked that stuff too easily or gratuitously, as a way of assuaging my fears of not being edgy… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
As the writer of this book [Lincoln in the Bardo], what I loved was the feeling of having so many surprises come… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
There were several points where I would kind of turn to the book and say, "Get thee behind me." I don't think… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The greatest thing about writing a book is that at first it's all inchoate, but the more you work on it, the… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The book says [Lincoln in the Bardo],"I really need this sci-fi device of a ghost inhabiting another person." You say okay kind… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If I'm writing a story and you're reading it, or vice versa, you took time out of your day to pick up… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I'm not thinking in any big thematic or conceptual terms - especially in this book [Lincoln in the Bardo] when I was… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Whole swaths of the book [Lincoln in the Bardo] are made up of verbatim quotes from various historical sources, which I cut… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I don't know about transformation. But scientifically you can say: Well, it doesn't seem to hurt anybody. Personally I've been cheered by… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“But hereby resolve to write in this book at least twenty minutes a night. (If discouraged, just think of how much will… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
That underscored this idea that when we're reading a book or writing a book, you're in an act of co-creation. The reader… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
There are some things fundamentally off about the stance of the book. And maybe that's okay; maybe every book is flawed, and… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I would say one thing writing this book [Lincoln in the Bardo] did for me was underscore the fact that this issue… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I'm not a big fan of my books going on cross-country road trips. They get arrogant and, next thing, start aspiring to… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
[In the moment of reading writer and reader] are both briefly their best selves, or at least better selves. A flawed human… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
One of the revelations in that book [Lincoln in the Bardo] for me was this idea about citizenship. Even that word -… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If I'm writing a story and you're reading it, or vice versa, you took time out of your day to pick up… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
What was fun for me with this book [Lincoln in the Bardo] was to start out with the principle that went, "We're… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
While writing this book [Lincoln in the Bardo], [idea of inclusion] occurred to me, you either believe in the Constitution or you… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
And I have finally realized that, you know, it's not a given that my lifespan will accommodate my writing aspirations. It could… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
[Lincoln in the Bardo] is not a long book. And that meant I could obsess over it and live in it both… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
It blew my mind, reading Swing Time, that I could take any sentence in the book, and it was one of the… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I guess what I'm trying to say is that whatever weirdness was going to be in there, I felt, had to be… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I'm not thinking much about overall themes or preoccupations or anything like that. Instead I'm just trusting that, if I'm working hard,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
You can see a whole book as a series of creating an expectation and then delivering a skew on that expectation so… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The beginning [of Lincoln in the Bardo] is strange, and I did a lot of work calibrating that so that a reader… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I sometimes think that I can't do the bigger thing that [Zadie Smith] do so beautifully, as in Swing Time, with so… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Success is like a mountain in front of you that keeps growing. If you're not careful, it will take up your whole life. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“Wow wow wow is all I can say! Remember how I always buy lunchtime Scratch-Off ticket? Have I said? Maybe did not say? Well,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“None of it was real; nothing was real. Everything was real; inconceivably real, infinitely dear. These and all things started as nothing, latent within… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“We must see God not as a Him (some linear rewarding fellow) but an IT, a great beast beyond our understanding, who wants something… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
America, to me, should be shouting all the time, a bunch of shouting voices, most of them wrong, some of them nuts, but please,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
In my case, when I am trying to be "kind" I often default in a sort of toothless loving-all stance that is, actually, not… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Whatever your supposed politics are - left, right - if you put it in a human connection, most people will rise to the occasion… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“A Clinton staffer tells me his theory. Think about Frank Sinatra, he says: born to sing. Think about Willie Mays: born to play ball.… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
We try, we fail, we posture, we aspire, we pontificate - and then we age, shrink, die, and vanish. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“You were torturing a cat," she says. "With a freaking prod." "A prod I built myself in metal shop," he says. "But of course… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“Rachel got up and did this happy little shuffle, like she was some cheerful farmer chick who'd just stepped outside to find the hick… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
What America is, to me, is a guy doesn't want to buy, you let him not buy, you respect his not buying. A guy… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
![“One of the ideas that runs through this book [Lincoln in the Bardo] is this Buddhist notion that the mind is incredibly powerful; not the brain but the mind.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e6e/george-saunders-317_book_one-of-the-ideas-that-runs-through-this_98166.jpg)
![“I knew if I evoked that stuff too easily or gratuitously, as a way of assuaging my fears of not being edgy or whatever, the writing would fall apart. This book [Lincoln in the Bardo] was going to have to have some earnestness in it.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/794/george-saunders-317_book_i-knew-if-i-evoked-that-stuff-too-easily_407342.jpg)
![“As the writer of this book [Lincoln in the Bardo], what I loved was the feeling of having so many surprises come at the end that I hadn't really planned or planted.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/869/george-saunders-317_book_as-the-writer-of-this-book-lincoln-in-th_507145.jpg)
![“The book says [Lincoln in the Bardo],"I really need this sci-fi device of a ghost inhabiting another person." You say okay kind of begrudgingly. So the structure seemed informed by need and efficiency.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/336/george-saunders-317_book_the-book-says-lincoln-in-the-bardo-i-rea_759066.jpg)
![“I'm not thinking in any big thematic or conceptual terms - especially in this book [Lincoln in the Bardo] when I was trying to make the voices more active, more energetic.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/2be/george-saunders-317_active_i-m-not-thinking-in-any-big-thematic-or_1219393.jpg)
![“Whole swaths of the book [Lincoln in the Bardo] are made up of verbatim quotes from various historical sources, which I cut up and rearranged to form part of the narrative.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f08/george-saunders-317_book_whole-swaths-of-the-book-lincoln-in-the_1268701.jpg)
![“I would say one thing writing this book [Lincoln in the Bardo] did for me was underscore the fact that this issue [all men are created equal] has never been properly addressed and it hasn't gone away.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/0c5/george-saunders-317_book_i-would-say-one-thing-writing-this-book_1522919.jpg)
![“[In the moment of reading writer and reader] are both briefly their best selves, or at least better selves. A flawed human being writes something and 60 years later a reader picks up the book and something in them rises to meet it.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/538/george-saunders-317_best-self_in-the-moment-of-reading-writer-and-read_1635082.jpg)
![“One of the revelations in that book [Lincoln in the Bardo] for me was this idea about citizenship. Even that word - citizenship - for someone my age, it makes me cringe. But, to me, the political space we're in now argues for a reboot of fairly simple ideas and the examination of the way that…” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6e1/george-saunders-317_age_one-of-the-revelations-in-that-book-linc_1717410.jpg)
![“What was fun for me with this book [Lincoln in the Bardo] was to start out with the principle that went, "We're going to fight every day to make this not a novel; make it too short to be a novel." And then with that principle in place, the book sort of starts to say, "Okay, but I really need this…” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/920/george-saunders-317_book_what-was-fun-for-me-with-this-book-linco_1985477.jpg)
![“While writing this book [Lincoln in the Bardo], [idea of inclusion] occurred to me, you either believe in the Constitution or you don't. If you do, it's intense in what it wants of us.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/367/george-saunders-317_believe_while-writing-this-book-lincoln-in-the-b_2048122.jpg)
![“[Lincoln in the Bardo] is not a long book. And that meant I could obsess over it and live in it both backwards and forwards and hyper-control everything.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/afc/george-saunders-317_backwards_lincoln-in-the-bardo-is-not-a-long-book_2176474.jpg)
![“The beginning [of Lincoln in the Bardo] is strange, and I did a lot of work calibrating that so that a reader with a certain level of patience would get through it and in the nick of time start to figure out what was going on. In a short book, you can do that.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/9f9/george-saunders-317_book_the-beginning-of-lincoln-in-the-bardo-is_3025267.jpg)
![“I sometimes think that I can't do the bigger thing that [Zadie Smith] do so beautifully, as in Swing Time, with so much world in it and so much rapturous paint thrown around. I don't think it would be possible to write a book on that scale with as much OCD as I have.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/793/george-saunders-317_bigger_i-sometimes-think-that-i-can-t-do-the-bi_3125094.jpg)
