---
title: "2 Bookstores Quotes By Jane Smiley"
description: "2 Bookstores quotes by Jane Smiley. Plus more from Jane Smiley and more Bookstores sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02e/jane-smiley-2120_alluring_a-bookstore-is-one-of-the-few-places-whe_1612200.png"
---

> [a bookstore is one of the few places where all the cantankerous, conflicting, alluring voices of the world co-exist in peace and order and the avid reader is as free as a person can possibly be, because she is free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/a-bookstore-is-one-of-the-few-places-where-all-the-cantankerous/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/02e/jane-smiley-2120_alluring_a-bookstore-is-one-of-the-few-places-whe_1612200.png)

> [A reader's tastes are peculiar. Choosing books to read is like making your way down a remote and winding path. Your stops on that path are always idiosyncratic. One book leads to another and another the way one thought leads…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/a-reader-s-tastes-are-peculiar-choosing-books-to-read-is-like-making/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/38c/jane-smiley-2120_book_a-reader-s-tastes-are-peculiar-choosing_2009333.png)

## Other authors on Bookstores

- [Kerry E. Wagner 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bookstores/kerry-e-wagner/)

## More by Jane Smiley

> [Some novelists are luckier than others in the eras of their formative intellectual years, but all Weltanschauungs return, which means that most novelists have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/some-novelists-are-luckier-than-others-in-the-eras-of-their-formative/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [There can never be such a thing as a free market, because it is human nature to cheat, monopolize, and buy off others so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/there-can-never-be-such-a-thing-as-a-free-market-because-it-is-human/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [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,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/the-only-siblings-i-have-are-half-siblings-my-nuclear-family-would/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [How will you know a good farmer when you meet him? He will not ask you for any favors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/how-will-you-know-a-good-farmer-when-you-meet-him-he-will-not-ask-you/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/you-know-what-getting-married-is-it-s-agreeing-to-taking-this-person/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/every-first-draft-is-perfect-because-all-a-first-draft-has-to-do-is/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [“We watched the swimmers and sunbathers and I thought about this. Had I faced all the facts? It seemed like I had, but actually,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/we-watched-the-swimmers-and-sunbathers-and-i-thought-about-this-had-i/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [“They throw themselves on the waters of the world, and they know they will be borne up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/they-throw-themselves-on-the-waters-of-the-world-and-they-know-they/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [everything is toxic. That's the point. You can't avoid toxins. Thinking you can is just another symptom of the toxic overload stage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/everything-is-toxic-that-s-the-point-you-can-t-avoid-toxins-thinking/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/shame-is-a-distinct-feeling-i-couldn-t-look-at-my-hands-around-the/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [“She could not have created this moment, these lovely faces, these candles flickering, the flash of the silverware, the fragrances of the food hanging…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/she-could-not-have-created-this-moment-these-lovely-faces-these/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [Horse racing is really much more intimidating than anything having to do with literature. When I had horses at the racetrack, I would wake…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/horse-racing-is-really-much-more-intimidating-than-anything-having-to/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [“Had I faced all the facts It seemed like I had but actually you never know just by remembering how many there were to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/had-i-faced-all-the-facts-it-seemed-like-i-had-but-actually-you-never/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [A theory of creativity is actually just a metaphor. A pool of ideas, a well of memories, a voice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/a-theory-of-creativity-is-actually-just-a-metaphor-a-pool-of-ideas-a/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

> [There are hundreds of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings around the United States and in other countries, too. Wright lived into his 90s, and one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jane-smiley/there-are-hundreds-of-frank-lloyd-wright-buildings-around-the-united/)

[Jane Smiley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jane-smiley/)

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