--- title: "12 Firsts Quotes By Nicole Krauss" description: "12 Firsts quotes by Nicole Krauss. Plus more from Nicole Krauss and more Firsts sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4df/nicole-krauss-920_books_part-of-the-work-of-writing-a-novel-is-t_2191061.png" --- > [Part of the work of writing a novel is to uncover the symmetries or connections that make it whole, which might not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/part-of-the-work-of-writing-a-novel-is-to-uncover-the-symmetries-or/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4df/nicole-krauss-920_books_part-of-the-work-of-writing-a-novel-is-t_2191061.png) > [My first novel, 'Man Walks Into a Room,' is about a man who's lost his memory and has to start a second…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/my-first-novel-man-walks-into-a-room-is-about-a-man-who-s-lost-his/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bdd/nicole-krauss-920_books_my-first-novel-man-walks-into-a-room-is_1069375.png) > [At first Babel longed for the use of just two words: Yes and No. But he knew that just to utter a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/at-first-babel-longed-for-the-use-of-just-two-words-yes-and-no-but-he/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e4c/nicole-krauss-920_babel_at-first-babel-longed-for-the-use-of-jus_2695580.png) > [I have a very strong sense of architecture in my novels. But at first it's sometimes like building a doorknob before you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/i-have-a-very-strong-sense-of-architecture-in-my-novels-but-at-first/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/32f/nicole-krauss-920_architecture_i-have-a-very-strong-sense-of-architectu_3061437.jpg) > [I always wrote little things when I was younger. My first opus was a book of poems put down in a spiral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/i-always-wrote-little-things-when-i-was-younger-my-first-opus-was-a/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9e4/nicole-krauss-920_book_i-always-wrote-little-things-when-i-was_2357516.png) > [Then I turned the page and at the top it said THINGS I MISS ABOUT M and there was a list of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/then-i-turned-the-page-and-at-the-top-it-said-things-i-miss-about-m/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f6f/nicole-krauss-920_firsts_then-i-turned-the-page-and-at-the-top-it_958400.png) > [Sometimes just to paint a head you have to give up the whole figure. To paint a leaf, you have to sacrifice…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/sometimes-just-to-paint-a-head-you-have-to-give-up-the-whole-figure/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6bb/nicole-krauss-920_artist_sometimes-just-to-paint-a-head-you-have_403967.png) > [Now that mine is almost over, I can say that the one thing that struck me most about life is the capacity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/now-that-mine-is-almost-over-i-can-say-that-the-one-thing-that-struck/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94f/nicole-krauss-920_bears_now-that-mine-is-almost-over-i-can-say-t_731278.jpg) > [When I was with Yoav, everything in me that had been sitting stood up. He had a way of looking at me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/when-i-was-with-yoav-everything-in-me-that-had-been-sitting-stood-up/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a98/nicole-krauss-920_feel_when-i-was-with-yoav-everything-in-me-th_2202071.png) > [Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-boy-who-loved-a-girl-and-her-laughter/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/068/nicole-krauss-920_boys_once-upon-a-time-there-was-a-boy-who-lov_247411.png) > [For me, what I am making in the novel is a place to live. When I first switched from poetry to novels,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/for-me-what-i-am-making-in-the-novel-is-a-place-to-live-when-i-first/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd9/nicole-krauss-920_books_for-me-what-i-am-making-in-the-novel-is_1979633.png) > [Maybe the first time you saw her you were ten. She was standing in the sun scratching her legs. Or tracing letters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/maybe-the-first-time-you-saw-her-you-were-ten-she-was-standing-in-the/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1b9/nicole-krauss-920_bicycle_maybe-the-first-time-you-saw-her-you-wer_392363.jpg) ## Other authors on Firsts ## More by Nicole Krauss > [“Narrative cannot sustain formlessness any more than light can sustain darkness - it is the antithesis of formlessness, and so it can never truly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/narrative-cannot-sustain-formlessness-any-more-than-light-can-sustain/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [I think of novels as houses. You live in them over the course of a long period, both as a reader and as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/i-think-of-novels-as-houses-you-live-in-them-over-the-course-of-a/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [When we went into the ocean, I watched his body as he dove into the waves, and it gave me a feeling in my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/when-we-went-into-the-ocean-i-watched-his-body-as-he-dove-into-the/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“There are times when the kindness of strangers only makes matter worse because one realizes how badly one is in need of kindness and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/there-are-times-when-the-kindness-of-strangers-only-makes-matter/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [She was gone, and all that was left was the space where you'd grown around her, like a tree that grows around a fence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/she-was-gone-and-all-that-was-left-was-the-space-where-you-d-grown/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“The air felt different in my lungs. The world no longer looked the same. You change and then you change again. You become a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/the-air-felt-different-in-my-lungs-the-world-no-longer-looked-the/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“The first language humans had was gestures. There was nothing primitive about this language that flowed from people’s hands, nothing we say now that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/the-first-language-humans-had-was-gestures-there-was-nothing/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [I feel really strongly about not wanting to overly guide the reader about what he or she should think. I really trust the reader…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/i-feel-really-strongly-about-not-wanting-to-overly-guide-the-reader/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [Mom?" I said. She turned. "Can I talk to you about something?" "Of course, darling. Come here." I took a few steps into the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/mom-i-said-she-turned-can-i-talk-to-you-about-something-of-course/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [In one's youth, one has tremendous access to one's feelings. And as one gets older, some of those feelings kind of drift away. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/in-one-s-youth-one-has-tremendous-access-to-one-s-feelings-and-as-one/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [Obviously I've been reading Kafka for a long long time, since I was really young, and even before I ever read him I knew…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/obviously-i-ve-been-reading-kafka-for-a-long-long-time-since-i-was/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“She's kept her love for him as alive as the summer they first met. In order to do this, she's turned life away. Sometimes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/she-s-kept-her-love-for-him-as-alive-as-the-summer-they-first-met-in/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [Sometimes no length of string is long enough to say the thing that needs to be said. In such cases all the string can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/sometimes-no-length-of-string-is-long-enough-to-say-the-thing-that/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“Doesn’t part of the awe that fills us when we confront the unknown come from understanding that, should it at last flood into us…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/doesn-t-part-of-the-awe-that-fills-us-when-we-confront-the-unknown/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [“I knew how to raise my own child, what did he think it was, a game of Scrabble or Monopoly, there are no rules,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/i-knew-how-to-raise-my-own-child-what-did-he-think-it-was-a-game-of/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/firsts/nicole-krauss/#itemlist", "name": "12 Firsts Quotes By Nicole Krauss", "numberOfItems": 12, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Part of the work of writing a novel is to uncover the symmetries or connections that make it whole, which might not reveal itself at first.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Nicole Krauss" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/part-of-the-work-of-writing-a-novel-is-to-uncover-the-symmetries-or/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4df/nicole-krauss-920_books_part-of-the-work-of-writing-a-novel-is-t_2191061.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4df/nicole-krauss-920_books_part-of-the-work-of-writing-a-novel-is-t_2191061.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4df/nicole-krauss-920_books_part-of-the-work-of-writing-a-novel-is-t_2191061.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Part of the work of writing a novel is to uncover the symmetries or connections that make it whole, which…” — Nicole Krauss", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "My first novel, 'Man Walks Into a Room,' is about a man who's lost his memory and has to start a second life. 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He had a way of looking at me with a kind of unabashed directness that made me shiver. It's something amazing to feel that for the first time someone is seeing you as you really are, not as they wish you, or you wish yourself, to be.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Nicole Krauss" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/when-i-was-with-yoav-everything-in-me-that-had-been-sitting-stood-up/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a98/nicole-krauss-920_feel_when-i-was-with-yoav-everything-in-me-th_2202071.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a98/nicole-krauss-920_feel_when-i-was-with-yoav-everything-in-me-th_2202071.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a98/nicole-krauss-920_feel_when-i-was-with-yoav-everything-in-me-th_2202071.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“When I was with Yoav, everything in me that had been sitting stood up. He had a way of looking at me with a…” — Nicole Krauss", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 10, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering. When they were ten he asked her to marry him. When they were eleven he kissed her for the first time... 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When I first switched from poetry to novels, I was asked why, and the metaphor I came up with was about poems as rooms. You can make a room perfect, but then you have to shut the door and never go back, whereas a novel is like a house - it can never be perfect, but you can make a life in it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Nicole Krauss" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/for-me-what-i-am-making-in-the-novel-is-a-place-to-live-when-i-first/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd9/nicole-krauss-920_books_for-me-what-i-am-making-in-the-novel-is_1979633.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd9/nicole-krauss-920_books_for-me-what-i-am-making-in-the-novel-is_1979633.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd9/nicole-krauss-920_books_for-me-what-i-am-making-in-the-novel-is_1979633.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“For me, what I am making in the novel is a place to live. 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