I believe that, when [meeting of writer and reader] happens and the reader goes out into the world the next day, there's… — 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 think the trick of being a writer is to basically put your cards out there all the time and be willing… — 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
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
“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 far as which writers embody this form of gentle power - Tobias Wolff, for sure. His persona and his writing both… — 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
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
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 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
“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
The switch that I'd like to throw on is the one that says, "Look, you're a human being whose mind is every… — 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Fiction is a kind of compassion-generating machine that saves us from sloth. Is life kind or cruel? Yes, Literature answers. Are people… — 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
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
“Fiction is a kind of compassion-generating machine that saves us from sloth. Is life kind or cruel? Yes, Literature answers. Are people… — 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
“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
“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
“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
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
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
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
“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
We try, we fail, we posture, we aspire, we pontificate - and then we age, shrink, die, and vanish. — George Saunders Copy Share
“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
“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
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
What good the prophet in the wilderness may do is incremental and personal. It's good for us to hear someone speak the irrational truth.… — George Saunders Copy Share
We're in the transition between birth and death. But the one that people often know about is the transition between the moment of death… — George Saunders Copy Share
You don't want to be that parent - the one who dresses his kid in a cloth sack when all the other kids are… — George Saunders Copy Share
![“I believe that, when [meeting of writer and reader] happens and the reader goes out into the world the next day, there's some alteration that might possibly inflect the person positively.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c78/george-saunders-317_alterations_i-believe-that-when-meeting-of-writer-an_2524233.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/i/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/i/f08/george-saunders-317_book_whole-swaths-of-the-book-lincoln-in-the_1268701.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/i/6e1/george-saunders-317_age_one-of-the-revelations-in-that-book-linc_1717410.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/i/793/george-saunders-317_bigger_i-sometimes-think-that-i-can-t-do-the-bi_3125094.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/i/920/george-saunders-317_book_what-was-fun-for-me-with-this-book-linco_1985477.jpg)
