--- title: "18 Ifs Quotes By Joan Didion" description: "18 Ifs quotes by Joan Didion. Plus more from Joan Didion and more Ifs sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c23/joan-didion-497_ifs_we-live-entirely-especially-if-we-are-wr_2588076.jpg" --- > [We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/we-live-entirely-especially-if-we-are-writers-by-the-imposition-of-a-2/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c23/joan-didion-497_ifs_we-live-entirely-especially-if-we-are-wr_2588076.jpg) > [I can't imagine writing if I didn't have a reader. Any more than an actor can imagine acting without an audience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-can-t-imagine-writing-if-i-didn-t-have-a-reader-any-more-than-an/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e01/joan-didion-497_acting_i-can-t-imagine-writing-if-i-didn-t-have_230195.jpg) > [If you aren't aware of the reader, you're working in a vacuum.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/if-you-aren-t-aware-of-the-reader-you-re-working-in-a-vacuum/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/54d/joan-didion-497_books_if-you-aren-t-aware-of-the-reader-you-re_1243708.jpg) > [There's a lot of landscape I never would have described if I hadn't been homesick. The impulse was nostalgia.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/there-s-a-lot-of-landscape-i-never-would-have-described-if-i-hadn-t/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1c/joan-didion-497_homesick_there-s-a-lot-of-landscape-i-never-would_702707.jpg) > [It's just a deep pleasure to read something you've written yourself - if and when you like it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/it-s-just-a-deep-pleasure-to-read-something-you-ve-written-yourself/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/437/joan-didion-497_books_it-s-just-a-deep-pleasure-to-read-someth_1347936.jpg) > [On the whole, I don't want to think too much about why I write what I write. If I know what I'm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/on-the-whole-i-don-t-want-to-think-too-much-about-why-i-write-what-i/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0f/joan-didion-497_i-can_on-the-whole-i-don-t-want-to-think-too-m_3134320.jpg) > [If you want to understand what you're thinking, you kind of have to work it through and write it. And the only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/if-you-want-to-understand-what-you-re-thinking-you-kind-of-have-to/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/622/joan-didion-497_ifs_if-you-want-to-understand-what-you-re-th_1291159.jpg) > [Something I've always known about the screen is that if it's anything in the world, it's literal. It's so literal that there's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/something-i-ve-always-known-about-the-screen-is-that-if-it-s-anything/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c38/joan-didion-497_ifs_something-i-ve-always-known-about-the-sc_208183.jpg) > [You think you have some stable talent which will show no matter what you're writing, and if it doesn't seem to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/you-think-you-have-some-stable-talent-which-will-show-no-matter-what/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/23e/joan-didion-497_audience_you-think-you-have-some-stable-talent-wh_3058018.jpg) > [I work every day. Sometimes I don't accomplish anything every day, but if I don't work every day, I get depressed and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-work-every-day-sometimes-i-don-t-accomplish-anything-every-day-but/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7dc/joan-didion-497_accomplish_i-work-every-day-sometimes-i-don-t-accom_4124.jpg) > [I always want everything read in one sitting. If they can't read it in one sitting, you're going to lose the rhythm…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-always-want-everything-read-in-one-sitting-if-they-can-t-read-it-in/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b16/joan-didion-497_ifs_i-always-want-everything-read-in-one-sit_2070938.jpg) > [Becoming a parent is actually terrifying. A lot of people have that feeling about their dogs. And if you're the kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/becoming-a-parent-is-actually-terrifying-a-lot-of-people-have-that/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2cc/joan-didion-497_animal_becoming-a-parent-is-actually-terrifying_2489330.jpg) > [Sometimes an actor performs a character, but sometimes an actor just performs. With writing, I don't think it's performing a character, really,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/sometimes-an-actor-performs-a-character-but-sometimes-an-actor-just/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/47a/joan-didion-497_actors_sometimes-an-actor-performs-a-character_2169039.jpg) > [I start a book and I want to make it perfect, want it to turn every color, want it to be the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-start-a-book-and-i-want-to-make-it-perfect-want-it-to-turn-every-2/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c5/joan-didion-497_accommodations_i-start-a-book-and-i-want-to-make-it-per_1485394.jpg) > [When you lose someone, a whole lot of perfectly normal circumstances suddenly take on different meaning. You see it in a different…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/when-you-lose-someone-a-whole-lot-of-perfectly-normal-circumstances/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/864/joan-didion-497_approaching-death_when-you-lose-someone-a-whole-lot-of-per_624040.jpg) > [What does it cost to lose those weeks, that light, the very nights in the year preferred over all others? Can you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/what-does-it-cost-to-lose-those-weeks-that-light-the-very-nights-in/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/01e/joan-didion-497_blue_what-does-it-cost-to-lose-those-weeks-th_477753.jpg) > [If you are doing a piece about somebody, even if you admire them tremendously and express that in the piece, express that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/if-you-are-doing-a-piece-about-somebody-even-if-you-admire-them/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d61/joan-didion-497_admiration_if-you-are-doing-a-piece-about-somebody_2985641.jpg) > [If we do not respect ourselves, we are on the one hand forced to despise those who have so few resources as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/if-we-do-not-respect-ourselves-we-are-on-the-one-hand-forced-to/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4fc/joan-didion-497_blind_if-we-do-not-respect-ourselves-we-are-on_2054580.jpg) ## Other authors on Ifs ## More by Joan Didion > [To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-shift-the-structure-of-a-sentence-alters-the-meaning-of-that/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I work every day. Sometimes I don't accomplish anything every day, but if I don't work every day, I get depressed and get afraid…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-work-every-day-sometimes-i-don-t-accomplish-anything-every-day-but/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [Style is character.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/style-is-character/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/california-is-a-place-in-which-a-boom-mentality-and-a-sense-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I went because I was interested in the alchemy of issues.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-went-because-i-was-interested-in-the-alchemy-of-issues/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Why did I write it down? In order to remember, of course, but exactly what was it I wanted to remember? How much of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/why-did-i-write-it-down-in-order-to-remember-of-course-but-exactly/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I no longer want reminders of what was, what got broken, what got lost, what got wasted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-no-longer-want-reminders-of-what-was-what-got-broken-what-got-lost/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [My mother 'gave teas' the way other mothers breathed. Her own mother 'gave teas.' All of their friends 'gave teas,' each involving butter cookies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/my-mother-gave-teas-the-way-other-mothers-breathed-her-own-mother/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [I'm not very interested in people. I recognize it in myself - there is a basic indifference toward people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-m-not-very-interested-in-people-i-recognize-it-in-myself-there-is-a/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Was there ever in anyone's life span a point free in time, devoid of memory, a point when choice was any more than sum…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/was-there-ever-in-anyone-s-life-span-a-point-free-in-time-devoid-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“Research to date has shown that, like many other stressors, grief frequently leads to changes in the endocrine, immune, autonomic nervous, and cardiovascular systems;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/research-to-date-has-shown-that-like-many-other-stressors-grief/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“By the end of the week she was thinking constantly about where her body stopped and the air began about the exact point in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/by-the-end-of-the-week-she-was-thinking-constantly-about-where-her/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [“I just can't see the upside in this," I heard myself say by way of explanation. Later he said that if John had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-just-can-t-see-the-upside-in-this-i-heard-myself-say-by-way-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [ I read so ravenously that I would read through whole categories. I was crazy about reading biographies. \[...\] I think biographies are very urgent… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-read-so-ravenously-that-i-would-read-through-whole-categories-i-was/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) > [To those of us who remained committed mainly to the exploration of moral distinctions and ambiguities, the feminist analysis may have seemed a particularly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/to-those-of-us-who-remained-committed-mainly-to-the-exploration-of/) [Joan Didion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-didion/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/joan-didion/#itemlist", "name": "18 Ifs Quotes By Joan Didion", "numberOfItems": 18, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/we-live-entirely-especially-if-we-are-writers-by-the-imposition-of-a-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c23/joan-didion-497_ifs_we-live-entirely-especially-if-we-are-wr_2588076.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c23/joan-didion-497_ifs_we-live-entirely-especially-if-we-are-wr_2588076.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c23/joan-didion-497_ifs_we-live-entirely-especially-if-we-are-wr_2588076.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We live entirely, especially if we are writers, by the imposition of a narrative line upon disparate images.” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I can't imagine writing if I didn't have a reader. 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And the only way to work it through, for me, is to write it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/if-you-want-to-understand-what-you-re-thinking-you-kind-of-have-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/622/joan-didion-497_ifs_if-you-want-to-understand-what-you-re-th_1291159.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/622/joan-didion-497_ifs_if-you-want-to-understand-what-you-re-th_1291159.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/622/joan-didion-497_ifs_if-you-want-to-understand-what-you-re-th_1291159.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If you want to understand what you're thinking, you kind of have to work it through and write it. And the…” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Something I've always known about the screen is that if it's anything in the world, it's literal. It's so literal that there's a whole lot you can't do because you're stuck with the literalness of the screen. The stage is not literal.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/something-i-ve-always-known-about-the-screen-is-that-if-it-s-anything/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c38/joan-didion-497_ifs_something-i-ve-always-known-about-the-sc_208183.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c38/joan-didion-497_ifs_something-i-ve-always-known-about-the-sc_208183.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c38/joan-didion-497_ifs_something-i-ve-always-known-about-the-sc_208183.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Something I've always known about the screen is that if it's anything in the world, it's literal. 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With writing, I don't think…” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 14, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I start a book and I want to make it perfect, want it to turn every color, want it to be the world. Ten pages in, I've already blown it, limited it, made it less, marred it. That's very discouraging. I hate the book at that point. After a while I arrive at an accommodation: Well, it's not the ideal, it's not the perfect object I wanted to make, but maybe—if I go ahead and finish it anyway—I can get it right next time. Maybe I can have another chance.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/i-start-a-book-and-i-want-to-make-it-perfect-want-it-to-turn-every-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c5/joan-didion-497_accommodations_i-start-a-book-and-i-want-to-make-it-per_1485394.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c5/joan-didion-497_accommodations_i-start-a-book-and-i-want-to-make-it-per_1485394.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6c5/joan-didion-497_accommodations_i-start-a-book-and-i-want-to-make-it-per_1485394.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I start a book and I want to make it perfect, want it to turn every color, want it to be the world. 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So you will always see them from a slightly different angle than they see themselves, and they feel a little betrayed by that.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joan Didion" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-didion/if-you-are-doing-a-piece-about-somebody-even-if-you-admire-them/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d61/joan-didion-497_admiration_if-you-are-doing-a-piece-about-somebody_2985641.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d61/joan-didion-497_admiration_if-you-are-doing-a-piece-about-somebody_2985641.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d61/joan-didion-497_admiration_if-you-are-doing-a-piece-about-somebody_2985641.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If you are doing a piece about somebody, even if you admire them tremendously and express that in the piece…” — Joan Didion", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 18, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If we do not respect ourselves, we are on the one hand forced to despise those who have so few resources as to consort with us, so little perception as to remain blind to our fatal weaknesses. 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