None of my own experiences ever finds its way into my work. However, the stages of my life - motherhood, middle age,… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
“Sifting through these layers of belongings while Ira stood mute behind her, Maggie had a sudden view of her life as circular.… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
I think I was born with the impression that what happened in books was much more reasonable, and interesting, and real, in… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
I write because I want more than one life; I insist on a wider selection. It's greed, plain and simple. — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
There is no true life. Your true life is the one you end up with, whatever it may be. You just do… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
It seems to me that good novels celebrate the mystery in ordinary life, and summing it all up in psychological terms strips… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
“He began to see the situation from another angle. An assignment had been given him. Someone’s life, a small set of lives… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
And she thought what a clean, simple life she would have led if it weren't for love. — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
“Ghosts... they are the completions of the deads intended gestures, there unfinished plans still hanging in the air - something like when… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
Reading any piece of writing aloud is an acid test, particularly when it comes to dialogue. There were writers I'd always admired… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
“You know why I like to talk to you, Delia? You never interrupt with your experiences. Not jiggling your foot till you… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
We stay in the house so much because I am waiting for the telephone. I seem to be back in my teens,… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
I expect that any day now, I will have said all I have to say; I'll have used up all my characters,… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
“I was born with the impression that what happened in books was much more reasonable, and interesting, and real, in some ways,… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
He wished he had inhabited more of his life, used it better, filled it fuller. — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
“What I do like listening to as I write is the sound of ordinary life out in the street—children playing and workmen… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
“I was born with the impression that what happened in books was much for reasonable, and interesting, and real, in some ways,… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
I have spent so long erecting partitions around the part of me that writes - learning how to close the door on… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
It is very difficult to live among people you love and hold back from offering them advice. — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
“Let's say you had to report back to heaven at the end of your time on earth, tell them what your personal… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
I write because I want more than one life; I insist on a wider selection. It’s greed, plain and simple. When my… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
“Past is past... no it's not! People are always fond of saying that, but what's past is never past; not entirely.” — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
None of my own experiences ever finds its way into my work. However, the stages of my life - motherhood, middle age, etc. -… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
For my own family, I would always choose the makeshift, surrogate family formed by various characters unrelated by blood. — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
Mostly it's lies, writing novels. You set out to tell an untrue story and you try to make it believable, even to yourself. Which… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
“You wake in the morning, you’re feeling fine, but all at once you think, “Something’s not right. Something’s off somewhere; what is it?” And… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
“...that was Julian for you: reckless. A dashing sailor, a speedy driver, a frequenter of single bars, he was the kind of man who… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
“Disaster followed disaster... the hero stuck in there, though. Macon had long ago noticed that all adventure movies had the same moral: Perseverance pays.… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
It struck her all at once that dealing with other human beings was an awful lot of work. — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
“Justine hated pantsuits. Whenever she saw one, she had an urge to tell the owner some scandalous fortune, loudly enough to be heard everywhere:… — Anne Tyler Copy Share Image
