There is no ideal length, but you develop a little interior gauge that tells you whether or not you're supporting the house or detracting from it. When a piece gets too long, the tension goes out of it. That wordtensionhas… — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
I don't read a lot of books that were published after 1755. One thing about having friends in New York who belong to the literary world, however, is that I have a steady stream of books coming to the house. — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
Ireland starts for me with the end of 'The Dead,' which my father read to me from his desk in his basement office in… — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
“If we put aside the self-awareness standard -- and really, how arbitrary and arrogant is that, to take the attribute of consciousness we happen to… — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
I'm just saying, take courage. That and pretty much that alone is never the incorrect thing to do. — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
What’s old doesn’t need to be old-fashioned. It gets reborn. — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
The city of Cork - the urban center, where all the shops and bars and everything are - is actually an island, a river… — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
The justification for rap rock seems to be that if you take really bad rock and put really bad rap over it, the result… — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
A good writer wants from us — or has no right to ask more than — intelligence, good faith and time. — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
It is a curious fact that the word 'essayist' showed up in English before it existed in French. — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
The initial research will be very indiscriminate. I do a lot of reading, buy a stack of books and read and digest them, and… — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
One of the best things I’ve read about that inexplicably, but endlessly, fascinating group of people, the so-called Serious Collectors of 78s. Petrusich burrows… — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
The greenness of Ireland is a false greenness, after all. Not that it isn't green - the place can still make you have to… — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
This is why you can never reason true Christians out of the faith. It's not, as the adage has it, because they were never… — John Jeremiah Sullivan Copy Share Image
