He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense. — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
As for himself, however hateful life was, it was hateful in a home and not in the gutter. Many Americans hated their… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“Stunned by how little he'd gotten over her and she'd gotten over him, he walked away understanding, as outside his reading in… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway. I would prefer to, I assure… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
My God! The English language is a form of communication! Conversation isn't just crossfire where you shoot and get shot at! Where… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
Never in his life had occasion to ask himself, "Why are things the way they are?" Why should he bother, when the… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“Here is someone not set up for life's working out poorly, let alone for the impossible.But who is set up for the… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“He had learned the worst lesson that life can teach - that it makes no sense. And when that happens the happiness… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“This ordinarily even-tempered man struck furiously at his heart like some fanatic at prayer, and, assailed by remorse not just for this… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“...I finally went back to my seat in the second row and sat there doing what I've done throughout my professional life:… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“Things don't have to reach a peak. They can just go on. You do want to make a narrative out of it,… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“The fact remains that getting people right is not what living is all about anyway. It's getting them wrong that is living,… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“Under the sad end-of-days spell of the smoky dusk and the waning year, of the moon and its ostentatious superiority to the… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
Doctor, I had never had anybody like her in my life, she was the fulfillment of my most lascivious adolescent dreams– but… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“You get them wrong before you meet them, while you're anticipating meeting them; you get them wrong while you're with them; and… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“But, no, Nathan was utterly unable to involve himself in anything not entirely of his own making. The closest Nathan could ever… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“The disruption of the anticipated American future that was simply to have unrolled out of the solid American past, out of each… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
I turn sentences around. That's my life. I write a sentence and then I turn it around. Then I look at it… — Philip Roth Copy Share Image
“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… — Philip Roth Copy Share
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… — Philip Roth Copy Share
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… — Philip Roth Copy Share
To become a celebrity is to become a brand name. There is Ivory Soap, Rice Krispies, and Philip Roth. Ivory is the soap that… — Philip Roth Copy Share
“There are no reasons. She is obliged to be as she is. We all are. Reasons are in books.” — Philip Roth Copy Share
“As far as I can see there is no conquering or exorcising the past with words - words born either of imagination or forthrightness.” — Philip Roth Copy Share
“What is astonishing is that we, who had no idea how anything was going to turn out, now know exactly what happened.” — Philip Roth Copy Share
“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!” — Philip Roth Copy Share
“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… — Philip Roth Copy Share
“Doctor Spielvogel, it alleviates nothing fixing the blame - blaming is still ailing, of course, of course - but nonetheless, what was it with… — Philip Roth Copy Share
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… — Philip Roth Copy Share
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… — Philip Roth Copy Share
