---
title: "2 Detached Quotes By Gerald Stern"
description: "2 Detached quotes by Gerald Stern. Plus more from Gerald Stern and more Detached sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/gerald-stern-17981_attached_you-could-be-attached-to-merely-a-descri_1665132.jpg"
---

> [You could be attached to merely a description of a plant or a flower. Or a narrative of an event. Or rage at injustice. Isaiah and the other Hebrew prophets, in their rage, were being altogether attached - not at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/you-could-be-attached-to-merely-a-description-of-a-plant-or-a-flower/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e8/gerald-stern-17981_attached_you-could-be-attached-to-merely-a-descri_1665132.jpg)

> [If the Buddhist's job is to be detached, I think that the artist's job is to be both detached and attached.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/if-the-buddhist-s-job-is-to-be-detached-i-think-that-the-artist-s-job/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c82/gerald-stern-17981_art_if-the-buddhist-s-job-is-to-be-detached_2482373.png)

## Other authors on Detached

## More by Gerald Stern

> [“I am going to carry my bed into New York City tonight complete with dangling sheets and ripped blankets; I am going to push…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-am-going-to-carry-my-bed-into-new-york-city-tonight-complete-with/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [I've been trying to come to terms with what I am and what I do and what I believe in. And I see that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-ve-been-trying-to-come-to-terms-with-what-i-am-and-what-i-do-and/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [“I think it's in Malone Dies that Beckett's creature is in a kind of prison or hospital. As I recall, he is visited twice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-think-it-s-in-malone-dies-that-beckett-s-creature-is-in-a-kind-of/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [Men aren't called pricks, but women are called cunts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/men-aren-t-called-pricks-but-women-are-called-cunts/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [I've changed over my writing life. If I can generalize, I would say that the more recent poems - believe it or not -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-ve-changed-over-my-writing-life-if-i-can-generalize-i-would-say/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [There are hundreds of prisons - sexual, political, cultural. But being a prisoner also gives you impetus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/there-are-hundreds-of-prisons-sexual-political-cultural-but-being-a/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [I've spent hundreds of hours working over words, and part of me, a large part of me, has a desire to do something else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-ve-spent-hundreds-of-hours-working-over-words-and-part-of-me-a/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [In America it's a particular problem. The artist, particularly the poet, is just unacknowledged; if I can use that dumb word. Maybe it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/in-america-it-s-a-particular-problem-the-artist-particularly-the-poet/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [I will look at the footprints going in and out of the water and dream up a small blue good to talk to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-will-look-at-the-footprints-going-in-and-out-of-the-water-and-dream/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [It's a kind of liberation to break free in language, if you can break free, but it's also a confinement, because form confines you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/it-s-a-kind-of-liberation-to-break-free-in-language-if-you-can-break/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [I feel that my job, as an artist, is to disturb the peace. And to disturb it intellectually, linguistically, politically and literally.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/i-feel-that-my-job-as-an-artist-is-to-disturb-the-peace-and-to/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [Oppressed cultures often envy those which are not, or oppressed individuals do, and sometimes those which - and who - are not envy those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/oppressed-cultures-often-envy-those-which-are-not-or-oppressed/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [The act of writing itself isn't outrageous. And the institution subtly and insidiously works on you in such a way that though you seem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/the-act-of-writing-itself-isn-t-outrageous-and-the-institution-subtly/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [“lucky life isn't one long string of horrors.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/lucky-life-isn-t-one-long-string-of-horrors/)

[gerald stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

> [The cave is a dark, shadowy place. It's a place that's very close and yet distant at the same time, and it's a place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gerald-stern/the-cave-is-a-dark-shadowy-place-it-s-a-place-that-s-very-close-and/)

[Gerald Stern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gerald-stern/)

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