If you read the biographies of people who have written good books, you often see the point where they suddenly come into… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“I had a nightmare about the Averys’ sweet-tempered German shepherd, Ina. In the dream, as I was sitting on the floor in… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“She had to tell him, while she still had time, how wrong he’d been and how right she’d been. How wrong not… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“It's good to have friends in life. If you want to have friends, you have to remember that nobody's perfect.” — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
Each new thing he encountered in life impelled him in a direction that fully convinced him of its rightness, but then the… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“My conception of a novel is that it ought to be a personal struggle, a direct and total engagement with the author's… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“I'm starting to think paradise isn't eternal contentment. It's more like there's something eternal about feeling contented. There's no such thing as… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
Robin turned and looked straight into her. "What's life for?" "I don't know." "I don't either. But I don't think it's about… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“The only guaranteed result of having an affair would be to add yet another disapproving woman to his life.” — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“Gary had hoped to find her more cooperative. He already had one "alternative" sibling and he didn't need another. It frustrated him… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
Patty knew, in her heart, that he was wrong in his impression of her. And the mistake she went to go on… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
Depression presents itself as a realism regarding the rottenness of the world in general and the rottenness of your life in particular.… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“The fundamental fact about all of us is that we’re alive for a while but will die before long. This fact is the real… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
Fiction that isn't an author's personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn't worth writing for anything but money. — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“Parents are programmed to want the best for their kids, regardless of what they get in return. That's what love is supposed to be… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“Birds were what became of dinosaurs. Those mountains of flesh whose petrified bones were on display at the Museum of Natural History had done… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“Can a better kind of fiction save the world? There’s always some tiny hope (strange things do happen), but the answer is almost certainly… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
A big part of me would be very proud never having anything of mine adapted, because if you want the real experience, there's only… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
Seriously, the world is changing so quickly that if you had any more than 80 years of change I dont see how you could… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“I'm saying the structure and f the entire culture is flawed, chip said. I'm saying the bureaucracy has arrogated the right to define certain… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
Integrity's a neutral value. Hyenas have integrity, too. They're pure hyena. — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“An odd thing about beauty, however, is that it's absence tends not to arouse our sympathy as much as other forms of privation do.” — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
He became another data point in the American experiment of self-government, an experiment statistically skewed from the outset, because it wasn't the people with… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
“It was this motley band of modest peeps and plovers on the beach who reminded me of the human beings I loved best -… — Jonathan Franzen Copy Share Image
