---
title: "1 Detective Novel Quotes By Jonathan Lethem"
description: "1 Detective Novel quotes by Jonathan Lethem. Plus more from Jonathan Lethem and more Detective Novel sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ca/jonathan-lethem-1403_adventure_have-you-ever-felt-in-the-course-of-read_2952742.png"
---

> [“Have you ever felt, in the course of reading a detective novel, a guilty thrill of relief at having a character murdered before he can step onto the page and burden you with his actual existence? Detective stories always have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/have-you-ever-felt-in-the-course-of-reading-a-detective-novel-a/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9ca/jonathan-lethem-1403_adventure_have-you-ever-felt-in-the-course-of-read_2952742.png)

## More by Jonathan Lethem

> [It was often this way, life consisted of a series of false beginnings, bluff declarations of arrival to destinations not even glimpsed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/it-was-often-this-way-life-consisted-of-a-series-of-false-beginnings/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [I've been an advocate against the view of the writer as a partitioned genius hanging in conceptual space, or up on a mountain, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/i-ve-been-an-advocate-against-the-view-of-the-writer-as-a-partitioned/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [“I suppose there was never a reason for tearing down a cabin or scrapping a stopped automobile, if you had all those acres.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/i-suppose-there-was-never-a-reason-for-tearing-down-a-cabin-or/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [Life is fundamentally up for grabs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/life-is-fundamentally-up-for-grabs/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [My heart, to put it more simply, got nostalgic for the present. Always a bad sign.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/my-heart-to-put-it-more-simply-got-nostalgic-for-the-present-always-a/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [It's impossible to overstate how my relationship to music forms a preserve for the esoteric or even spiritual aspect of my relationship to cultural…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/it-s-impossible-to-overstate-how-my-relationship-to-music-forms-a/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [“If. If Mingus Rude could be kept in this place, kept somehow in Dylan's pocket, in his stinging, smudgy hands, then summer wouldn't give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/if-if-mingus-rude-could-be-kept-in-this-place-kept-somehow-in-dylan-s/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [I had always wanted to be a writer who confused genre boundaries and who was read in multiple contexts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/i-had-always-wanted-to-be-a-writer-who-confused-genre-boundaries-and/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [“Memory is a rehearsal for a show that never goes on.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/memory-is-a-rehearsal-for-a-show-that-never-goes-on/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [“There is nothing Tourettic about the New York City subways.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/there-is-nothing-tourettic-about-the-new-york-city-subways/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [“Mingus Rude, Arthur Lomb, Gabriel Stern and Tim Vandertooth, even Aaron K. Doily: Dylan never met anyone who wasn't about to change immediately into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/mingus-rude-arthur-lomb-gabriel-stern-and-tim-vandertooth-even-aaron/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [I try to write every day. I don't beat myself up about word counts, or how many hours are ticking by on the clock…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/i-try-to-write-every-day-i-don-t-beat-myself-up-about-word-counts-or/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [“Enough of this. Does every conversation with you have to be the director's cut? Get out of the car.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/enough-of-this-does-every-conversation-with-you-have-to-be-the/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [“The stumbling block will turn out to be the traditional one for students of consciousness: the flashlight is incapable of shining on itself, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/the-stumbling-block-will-turn-out-to-be-the-traditional-one-for/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

> [“May one plead, Your Honor, postmodernism as an involuntary condition?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-lethem/may-one-plead-your-honor-postmodernism-as-an-involuntary-condition/)

[Jonathan Lethem](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-lethem/)

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