The most hopeful thing in the stories, I hope, is wit. I make it up. If I make up a world in… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If you're going to make an emotional connection with somebody, whether it's in the story or in the world, there's a certain… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
My go-to default is to try to be nice, which I feel does less harm in the long run than trying to… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I feel nervous because I revere [Zadie Smith] so much. I don't want to be stupid. If I say something stupid, just… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
It really strikes me how much of your energy in America, especially if you're from a working back-ground, is spent just keeping… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If you could press a button and your ego investment was less, the toothache would be less. Or less tragic at least. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Life is short, very short, and what are we doing here if not trying to become more generous and loving? — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If you at least try to do the things that excite you, it will make you a more expansive and present person… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If I'm writing a story and you're reading it, or vice versa, you took time out of your day to pick up… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
In the reason that the contrast between the absolute and the relative is so terrible is because we believe so fully in… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I find that the great artists I've met are people who are so playfully invested in their process that, even if it… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I sometimes imagine a great writer as a sort of God-surrogate: the writer is doing his or her human-best to emulate what… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I had to go in and do the work of toning [invented "historical" bits] down in order to make them fit [in… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
It's not fiction's job to be photographically representative of reality. If I want to make a fictional world where there's no kindness,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
People who've written about Abraham Lincoln's writing emphasize how logical he was. His writing was a syllogistic tool. He would say, if… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I'm starting to withdraw from [technology] as much as I can. I don't do much of the social media stuff. Like, if… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If you understand writing as primarily engaging an imaginary reader, well, you've kind of been doing that your whole life. You walk… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
My theory for nonfiction is that nobody can be free of some kind of conceptions about whatever story they're writing. But if… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
One of the ways that we cope with anxiety is by over planning and over controlling. If we know where it's going… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
It really was something, to see Ram Bahadur Bomjon, apparently living without food or water. Before I went on that trip I'd… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
This whole literary game of trying to put yourself in the shoes of your opponent is good for everybody. It leaves you… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
A writer writes what interests him and what he can manage, and what he can make live, as Flannery O'Connor said. So… — 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
Even if something within me is ugly, writing is a pretty good place to play with that thing and to begin to… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I think if someone could demonstrate to me that fiction did no good, I would still do it, because I think it… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I'm very happy - if I can do even a little bit of work to get the short story out more, I'm… — 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
If you bring forth what is within you, it will save you. If you do not bring it forth, it will destroy… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I am always considering the reader. Although this is admittedly kind of odd: Which reader? On what day? In what mood? For… — 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… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I understand what something short should be like. I understand beauty in that form. If I start extending, somehow I kind of… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I'm turning 58, and you get that kind of weird, old-guy feeling of you don't have an infinite number of years left… — 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
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
If you really think back to the great writers, there's a lot of happiness in Tolstoy; there's a lot of love, there's… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The other thing that's useful for me is this notion of the absolute versus the relative:if we walk out and it's a… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I knew if I evoked that stuff too easily or gratuitously, as a way of assuaging my fears of not being edgy… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I know this will sound naïve, but I often wonder what America would be like if our national ethos was simply to… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
When you're embarking on a piece of writing, the anxiety is just too much, especially when you're young and you're trying to… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
As for "toothy kindness" - I think all traditions are full of this sort of tough kindness. If someone is on a… — 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
![“I feel nervous because I revere [Zadie Smith] so much. I don't want to be stupid. If I say something stupid, just interrupt me.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/2b5/george-saunders-317_feels_i-feel-nervous-because-i-revere-zadie-sm_396169.jpg)
![“I had to go in and do the work of toning [invented "historical" bits] down in order to make them fit [in Lincoln in the Bardo]. It's like if you're an actor and you're always overacting, well, you're a bad actor. But if you're an actor who subdues yourself to the extent that's necessary, then…” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/04f/george-saunders-317_acting_i-had-to-go-in-and-do-the-work-of-toning_347664.jpg)
![“I'm starting to withdraw from [technology] as much as I can. I don't do much of the social media stuff. Like, if I'm on Facebook, it changes my relation to the real world in a way that makes me feel sick - almost like I've had too much sugar or something.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b68/george-saunders-317_feels_i-m-starting-to-withdraw-from-technology_1139204.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)
![“I knew if I evoked that stuff too easily or gratuitously, as a way of assuaging my fears of not being edgy or whatever, the writing would fall apart. This book [Lincoln in the Bardo] was going to have to have some earnestness in it.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/794/george-saunders-317_book_i-knew-if-i-evoked-that-stuff-too-easily_407342.jpg)
