Life's tallest order is to keep the feelings up, to make two dollars' worth of euphoria go the distance. And life can't do that. So fiction does. — Stanley Elkin Copy Share Image
“Because all books ARE the Book of Job -- man in the crucible like Jack in the Box…” — Stanley Elkin Copy Share
“Not just the celibacy thing but because he has God’s ear, a line on the mysteries. That’s impressive to girls.” — Stanley Elkin Copy Share
“Even the sky a hybrid — here clean and black and starred, there roiling with a brusque signature of cloud or piled in strata… — Stanley Elkin Copy Share
Like most people of my generation, I fell in love with the philosophy of existentialism. There is no particular religious tradition in my work.… — Stanley Elkin Copy Share
The peculiar dignity of men seen eating alone in restaurants on national holidays — Stanley Elkin Copy Share
But it's hard to talk about art. Maybe there should be a law against it, some First Amendment gag order like crying fire in… — Stanley Elkin Copy Share
I don't believe less is more. I believe that more is more. I believe that less is less, fat fat, thin thin and enough… — Stanley Elkin Copy Share
“There’s something comforting, almost soothing, about realism, and it’s nothing to do with shocks of recognition — well it wouldn’t, since shocks never console… — Stanley Elkin Copy Share
Life's tallest order is to keep the feelings up, to make two dollars' worth of euphoria go the distance. And life can't do that.… — Stanley Elkin Copy Share
Like a lot of what happens in novels, inspiration is a sort of spontaneous combustion--the oily rags of the head and heart. — Stanley Elkin Copy Share
Writing is an exercise in sculpture, chipping away at the rock until you find the nose. — Stanley Elkin Copy Share
