---
title: "13 Ifs Quotes By Philip Roth"
description: "13 Ifs quotes by Philip Roth. Plus more from Philip Roth and more Ifs sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d8/philip-roth-681_certain_at-a-certain-stage-of-misery-you-ll-try_1166060.jpg"
---

> [At a certain stage of misery, you'll try anything to explain what's going on with you, even if you know it doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/at-a-certain-stage-of-misery-you-ll-try-anything-to-explain-what-s/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7d8/philip-roth-681_certain_at-a-certain-stage-of-misery-you-ll-try_1166060.jpg)

> [To read a novel requires a certain kind of concentration, focus, devotion to the reading. If you read a novel in more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/to-read-a-novel-requires-a-certain-kind-of-concentration-focus/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c1e/philip-roth-681_books_to-read-a-novel-requires-a-certain-kind_363233.jpg)

> [I'm an Obama supporter. And if you're an Obama supporter that means you had a hard time during the Bush years.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/i-m-an-obama-supporter-and-if-you-re-an-obama-supporter-that-means/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/69a/philip-roth-681_hard_i-m-an-obama-supporter-and-if-you-re-an_1529697.jpg)

> [I work most days and if you work most days and you get at least a page done a day, then at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/i-work-most-days-and-if-you-work-most-days-and-you-get-at-least-a/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8b3/philip-roth-681_book_i-work-most-days-and-if-you-work-most-da_2413856.jpg)

> [What I have in mind when I start to write could fit inside an acorn-an acorn, moreover, that rarely if ever grows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/what-i-have-in-mind-when-i-start-to-write-could-fit-inside-an-acorn/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/42f/philip-roth-681_acorn_what-i-have-in-mind-when-i-start-to-writ_3184788.jpg)

> ['Haunted by the past' is a commonplace phrase because it's a commonplace experience. Even if one is not, strictly speaking, 'haunted', the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/haunted-by-the-past-is-a-commonplace-phrase-because-it-s-a/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/630/philip-roth-681_commonplace_haunted-by-the-past-is-a-commonplace-phr_278611.jpg)

> [What I would really love to happen to me would be if I came upon an idea that would keep me busy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/what-i-would-really-love-to-happen-to-me-would-be-if-i-came-upon-an/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/582/philip-roth-681_book_what-i-would-really-love-to-happen-to-me_2357439.jpg)

> [You don't want to repeat yourself for one. You don't want to fall into the clichés for another. And you don't want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/you-don-t-want-to-repeat-yourself-for-one-you-don-t-want-to-fall-into/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f0/philip-roth-681_fall_you-don-t-want-to-repeat-yourself-for-on_1216259.jpg)

> [Only in America, Rabbi Golden, do these peasants, our mothers, get their hair dyed platinum at the age of sixty, and walk…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/only-in-america-rabbi-golden-do-these-peasants-our-mothers-get-their/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/09c/philip-roth-681_age_only-in-america-rabbi-golden-do-these-pe_2414854.jpg)

> [Everybody has a hard job. All real work is hard. My work happened also to be undoable. Morning after morning for 50…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/everybody-has-a-hard-job-all-real-work-is-hard-my-work-happened-also/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e5/philip-roth-681_defenseless_everybody-has-a-hard-job-all-real-work-i_2916179.jpg)

> [Fear presides over these memories, a perpetual fear.Of course no childhood is without its terrors, yet I wonder if I would have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/fear-presides-over-these-memories-a-perpetual-fear-of-course-no/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/379/philip-roth-681_boys_fear-presides-over-these-memories-a-perp_392981.jpg)

> [You asked if I thought my fiction had changed anything in the culture and the answer is no. Sure, there's been some…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/you-asked-if-i-thought-my-fiction-had-changed-anything-in-the-culture/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/243/philip-roth-681_answers_you-asked-if-i-thought-my-fiction-had-ch_40862.jpg)

> [I would be wonderful with a 100-year moratorium on literature talk, if you shut down all literature departments, close the book reviews,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/i-would-be-wonderful-with-a-100-year-moratorium-on-literature-talk-if/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0f1/philip-roth-681_bans_i-would-be-wonderful-with-a-100-year-mor_1006282.jpg)

## Other authors on Ifs

## More by Philip Roth

> [“The old intergenerational give-and-take of the country-that-used-to-be, when everyone knew his role and took the rules dead seriously, the acculturating back-and-forth that all of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/the-old-intergenerational-give-and-take-of-the-country-that-used-to/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [You be greater than your feelings. I don't demand this of you - life does. Otherwise you'll be washed away by feelings. You'll be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/you-be-greater-than-your-feelings-i-don-t-demand-this-of-you-life/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [Nothing bad can happen to a writer. Everything is material.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/nothing-bad-can-happen-to-a-writer-everything-is-material/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [The only way to have a funeral is to invite everyone who ever knew the person and just wait for the accident to happen-somebody…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/the-only-way-to-have-a-funeral-is-to-invite-everyone-who-ever-knew/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [To become a celebrity is to become a brand name. There is Ivory Soap, Rice Krispies, and Philip Roth. Ivory is the soap that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/to-become-a-celebrity-is-to-become-a-brand-name-there-is-ivory-soap/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [“There are no reasons. She is obliged to be as she is. We all are. Reasons are in books.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/there-are-no-reasons-she-is-obliged-to-be-as-she-is-we-all-are/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [“As far as I can see there is no conquering or exorcising the past with words - words born either of imagination or forthrightness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/as-far-as-i-can-see-there-is-no-conquering-or-exorcising-the-past/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [The book really comes to life in the rewriting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/the-book-really-comes-to-life-in-the-rewriting/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [“What is astonishing is that we, who had no idea how anything was going to turn out, now know exactly what happened.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/what-is-astonishing-is-that-we-who-had-no-idea-how-anything-was-going/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [“Good Christ, a Jewish man with parents alive is a fifteen-year-old boy, and will remain a fifteen-year-old boy till they die!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/good-christ-a-jewish-man-with-parents-alive-is-a-fifteen-year-old-boy/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [I am the Raskolnikov of jerking off – the sticky evidence is everywhere!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/i-am-the-raskolnikov-of-jerking-off-the-sticky-evidence-is-everywhere/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [“Better for real things to be uncontrollable, better for one's life to be undecipherable and intellectually impenetrable than to attempt to make casual sense…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/better-for-real-things-to-be-uncontrollable-better-for-one-s-life-to/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [“Doctor Spielvogel, it alleviates nothing fixing the blame - blaming is still ailing, of course, of course - but nonetheless, what was it with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/doctor-spielvogel-it-alleviates-nothing-fixing-the-blame-blaming-is/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [My God! The English language is a form of communication! Conversation isn't just crossfire where you shoot and get shot at! Where you've got…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/my-god-the-english-language-is-a-form-of-communication-conversation/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

> [You asked if I thought my fiction had changed anything in the culture and the answer is no. Sure, there's been some scandal, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/philip-roth/you-asked-if-i-thought-my-fiction-had-changed-anything-in-the-culture/)

[Philip Roth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/philip-roth/)

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                        "text": "'Haunted by the past' is a commonplace phrase because it's a commonplace experience. Even if one is not, strictly speaking, 'haunted', the past is perpetually with one in the present, and the longer it grows and the further it recedes the stronger its presence seems to become.",
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                        "text": "What I would really love to happen to me would be if I came upon an idea that would keep me busy until I die so I wouldn't have to go through the business of thinking up a new book. But I wouldn't mind writing a long book which is going to occupy me for the rest of my life.",
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                        "text": "Only in America, Rabbi Golden, do these peasants, our mothers, get their hair dyed platinum at the age of sixty, and walk up and down Collins Avenue in Florida in pedalpushers and mink stoles - and with opinions on every subject under the sun. It isn't their fault they were given a gift like speech - look, if cows could talk, they would say things just as idiotic.",
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                        "text": "Everybody has a hard job. All real work is hard. My work happened also to be undoable. Morning after morning for 50 years, I faced the next page defenseless and unprepared. Writing for me was a feat of self-preservation. If I did not do it, I would die. So I did it. Obstinacy, not talent, saved my life.",
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                        "text": "Fear presides over these memories, a perpetual fear.Of course no childhood is without its terrors, yet I wonder if I would have been a less frightened boy if Lindbergh hadn't been president or if I hadn't been the offspring of Jews.",
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                        "text": "You asked if I thought my fiction had changed anything in the culture and the answer is no. Sure, there's been some scandal, but people are scandalized all the time; it's a way of life for them. It doesn't mean a thing. If you ask if I want my fiction to change anything in the culture, the answer is still no. What I want is to possess my readers while they are reading my book  if I can, to possess them in ways that other writers don't. Then let them return, just as they were, to a world where everybody else is working to change, persuade, tempt, and control them.",
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                        "text": "I would be wonderful with a 100-year moratorium on literature talk, if you shut down all literature departments, close the book reviews, ban the critics. The readers should be alone with the books, and if anyone dared to say anything about them, they would be shot or imprisoned right on the spot. Yes, shot. A 100-year moratorium on insufferable literary talk. You should let people fight with the books on their own and rediscover what they are and what they are not. Anything other than this talk.",
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