One of the ideas that runs through this book [Lincoln in the Bardo] is this Buddhist notion that the mind is incredibly… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Certainly we're always rooting for our particular contingent moment to be a great one. Pain-free. But the more expansive vision has to… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Whole idea is really intriguing to me. If you took snapshots of ourselves throughout the day, the way that our mind is… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I love story-writing because I can (more or less, on occasion) actually DO it. That's really the truth. I like the idea… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
My view is that our minds are incredibly powerful animals that are, during life, kept somewhat in check by the load of… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If you start with the idea that you are going to be writing about a night in a graveyard, and that there… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I don't know how you feel, but I feel like writing, clarity of thought, and truth have been validated because we see… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I have been married to my wife, Paula, for 25 years. We have wonderful kids. Things are - it's been a really… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The idea of inclusion has become kind of a stone that we've passed our hand over so many times that it doesn't… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
In art, and maybe just in general, the idea is to be able to be really comfortable with contradictory ideas. In other… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I was raised Catholic,I took from that was a sense of theater and drama, and also the idea that there were truths… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
What I really found myself interested in was the idea that our minds our so powerful and when we're living, the mind… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I love the idea that more people would read short fiction. I think it's such a humanizing form. It softens the boundaries… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Twitter is a deliberate abstention. Somehow I hate the idea of there always being, in the back of my mind, this little… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I say yes to the hot bath and the sandwich - to getting ourselves into the best possible mental shape to identify… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
This - where we are now - is where a culture gets to, when it has chosen, for many years, banality over… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
My idea about collections is that you write as hard as you can for some period and what you're really doing during… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I used to joke about this but I've recently realized that I really believe it: I spent many years training myself to… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
One of the revelations in that book [Lincoln in the Bardo] for me was this idea about citizenship. Even that word -… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
So for me the approach has become to go into a story not really sure of what I want to say, try… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If you want to explore a political idea in the highest possible way, you embody it in the personal, because that's something… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I think the biggest single issue is income inequity and what this is doing to the good old "American dream." This and… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The only thing I might have noticed [and this is pretty anecdotal] is that there is some tendency to need to be… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
While writing this book [Lincoln in the Bardo], [idea of inclusion] occurred to me, you either believe in the Constitution or you… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The way I understood purgatory - and maybe you've got a different version - but in Chicago in the '70s, the idea… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Both [Donald] Trump and Bernie [Sanders] got to this idea of the vanishing middle class sooner and with more passion than more… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The idea is that what an artist lives through should broaden his notion of what it is possible for a human being… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Success is like a mountain in front of you that keeps growing. If you're not careful, it will take up your whole life. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“Wow wow wow is all I can say! Remember how I always buy lunchtime Scratch-Off ticket? Have I said? Maybe did not say? Well,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“None of it was real; nothing was real. Everything was real; inconceivably real, infinitely dear. These and all things started as nothing, latent within… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“We must see God not as a Him (some linear rewarding fellow) but an IT, a great beast beyond our understanding, who wants something… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
America, to me, should be shouting all the time, a bunch of shouting voices, most of them wrong, some of them nuts, but please,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
In my case, when I am trying to be "kind" I often default in a sort of toothless loving-all stance that is, actually, not… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Whatever your supposed politics are - left, right - if you put it in a human connection, most people will rise to the occasion… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“A Clinton staffer tells me his theory. Think about Frank Sinatra, he says: born to sing. Think about Willie Mays: born to play ball.… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
We try, we fail, we posture, we aspire, we pontificate - and then we age, shrink, die, and vanish. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“You were torturing a cat," she says. "With a freaking prod." "A prod I built myself in metal shop," he says. "But of course… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“Rachel got up and did this happy little shuffle, like she was some cheerful farmer chick who'd just stepped outside to find the hick… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
What America is, to me, is a guy doesn't want to buy, you let him not buy, you respect his not buying. A guy… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
![“One of the ideas that runs through this book [Lincoln in the Bardo] is this Buddhist notion that the mind is incredibly powerful; not the brain but the mind.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/e6e/george-saunders-317_book_one-of-the-ideas-that-runs-through-this_98166.jpg)
![“One of the revelations in that book [Lincoln in the Bardo] for me was this idea about citizenship. Even that word - citizenship - for someone my age, it makes me cringe. But, to me, the political space we're in now argues for a reboot of fairly simple ideas and the examination of the way that…” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/6e1/george-saunders-317_age_one-of-the-revelations-in-that-book-linc_1717410.jpg)
![“The only thing I might have noticed [and this is pretty anecdotal] is that there is some tendency to need to be taught that 'writing is rewriting' - maybe more of a sense than was pervasive 10 years ago that the first or second pass of a story is sufficient. That is an idea that is easily…” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/249/george-saunders-317_blogging_the-only-thing-i-might-have-noticed-and_2019915.jpg)
![“While writing this book [Lincoln in the Bardo], [idea of inclusion] occurred to me, you either believe in the Constitution or you don't. If you do, it's intense in what it wants of us.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/367/george-saunders-317_believe_while-writing-this-book-lincoln-in-the-b_2048122.jpg)
![“Both [Donald] Trump and Bernie [Sanders] got to this idea of the vanishing middle class sooner and with more passion than more mainstream politicians, and benefited from it. The difference, of course, is that Bernie understood this in a more compassionate framework, and talked about it in…” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/802/george-saunders-317_action_both-donald-trump-and-bernie-sanders-got_2423291.jpg)
