I wrote the Dickens book because I loved Dickens, not because I felt a kinship with him, but after writing the book… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Every novel deals with social problems. It can't help it because the protagonist must come in conflict with his group. So the… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
There weren't too many books by women that were taught in school, so I read those on my own, and the books… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
When a novel has 200,000 words, then it is possible for the reader to experience 200,000 delights, and to turn back to… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“Leaving any bookstore is hard, especially on a day in August, when the street outside burns and glares, and the books inside… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Novelists of a conservative or more purely aesthetic bent hold up better on the surface, but their novels go in and out… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Some novelists are luckier than others in the eras of their formative intellectual years, but all Weltanschauungs return, which means that most novelists have… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
There can never be such a thing as a free market, because it is human nature to cheat, monopolize, and buy off others so… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
The only siblings I have are half-siblings. My nuclear family would have been an extra-suffocating threesome. Instead, I have an interesting brother and sister,… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
How will you know a good farmer when you meet him? He will not ask you for any favors. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
You know what getting married is? It's agreeing to taking this person who right now is at the top of his form, full of… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“We watched the swimmers and sunbathers and I thought about this. Had I faced all the facts? It seemed like I had, but actually,… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“They throw themselves on the waters of the world, and they know they will be borne up.” — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
everything is toxic. That's the point. You can't avoid toxins. Thinking you can is just another symptom of the toxic overload stage. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“Shame is a distinct feeling. I couldn’t look at my hands around the coffee cup or hear my own laments without feeling appalled, wanting… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“She could not have created this moment, these lovely faces, these candles flickering, the flash of the silverware, the fragrances of the food hanging… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Horse racing is really much more intimidating than anything having to do with literature. When I had horses at the racetrack, I would wake… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
