The relevant question isn't, 'Is this a potential friend for me?' but, 'Is this character alive?' — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
“MY MOTHER assures me that it happens to everyone, sooner or later, for reasons more or less identifiable; everyone loses a best… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
“I discovered I could hate her a bit, and because I didn’t tell her so, because our friendship went along on this… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
If you’re reading to find friends, you’re in deep trouble. We read to find life, in all its possibilities. The relevant question… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
“It was supposed to say “Great Artist” on my tombstone, but if I died right now it would say “such a good… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
As a kid, I used to tell all these stories. I remember meeting a childhood friend, and we were talking. We remembered… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
The professor husband of a friend of mine has likened children to the insane. I often think of it. He says that… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
“My everyday Appleton life, my phones calls to my father, my occasional beers with friends, my Saturday-morning jobs around the reservoir -… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
“The novel is describing a time in which she felt hope, beauty, elation, joy ,wonder, anticipation-these are things these friends gave to… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
“But our friendship was, at the same time, like a city you hadn’t visited in a long time, where you know the… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
“It was supposed to say “Great Artist” on my tombstone, but if I died right now it would say “such a good… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
When you're a kid, and someone is your best friend, you almost don't need words. It's almost like puppies in a -… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
I have said it somewhere - our literary lived lives are as important as our literally lived lives. — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
“Life is about deciding what matters. It’s about the fantasy that determines the reality. Have you ever asked yourself whether you’d rather fly or… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
Life's funny. You have to find a way to keep going, to keep laughing, even after you realize that none of your dreams will… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
It's the strangest thing about being human: to know so much, to communicate so much, and yet always to fall so drastically short of… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
The fictional narratives that television, film, and the news provide for girls and young women are appalling. — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
“I don't want to sleep,' my mother said. 'I want -- for God's sake, I want to wake up.” — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
“It was supposed to say “Great Artist” on my tombstone, but if I died right now it would say “such a good teacher/daughter/friend” instead;… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
“Live, my dear Nora. Satisfy your hunger. There's food all around you, you know.' 'What kind of food, I'd like to know?' 'Ah'-he smiled-… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
I digress a lot - it's how I experience the world. I would like to write in a way that will convey that to… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
We think that - as kids, you know - that kids make up stories and live in a sort of fictional place, but that,… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
“It makes sense that if you stand almost daily in the middle of a perfect crescent of shore, with a vista open to eternity,… — Claire Messud Copy Share Image
