There are books that I read years ago that enlivened things in me that haven't died yet. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If you understand writing as primarily engaging an imaginary reader, well, you've kind of been doing that your whole life. You walk… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The writer, in order to proceed, is theoretically trying to predict where his complex skein of language and image has left his… — 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
When you write an essay, of course you're going to get pushback, but you're going to be allowed to make your case… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I was, not an altar boy, but a reader of the Epistle, and I walked in on a nun and a priest… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
For me, the game would be to assume a very intelligent reader who can extrapolate a lot from a little. And that's… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I'm trying to read/edit my story as if I have no existing knowledge of the story, no investment in it, no sense… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I am always considering the reader. Although this is admittedly kind of odd: Which reader? On what day? In what mood? For… — 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
“He had no aversion to me, is how I might put it. Or rather, he had once had such an aversion, still… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“I was thinking the other day about the idea that you have a reader and a writer, and they’re different and they’re… — 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
I tend to foster drama via bleakness. If I want the reader to feel sympathy for a character, I cleave the character… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
To me, the writer's main job is to just make the story unscroll in such a way that the reader is snared… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
When you talk about a reader being emotionally moved, a feeling of empathy, I think that comes out of that line-by-line respect… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
On a more technical level, a story takes a lot of words. And to generate words and phrases and images and so… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The writer has to make pleasure for the reader - which, I think, is done by taking one's character's seriously and taking… — 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
That's one of the reasons I take a lot of consolation in fiction. You have years to work on it. I 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
Now I began to understand art as a kind of black box the reader enters. He enters in one state of mind… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
All storytelling is kind of that - there's a bit of text that you put pressure on that spits out some desire… — 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
![“As the writer of this book [Lincoln in the Bardo],…” 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…” 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)
