I think that's one of the maybe under-discussed aspects of process - the difference between a good writing day and a bad… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I think something that I can't name about our media has made us move away from that kind of specificity and that… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I tend to foster drama via bleakness. If I want the reader to feel sympathy for a character, I cleave the character… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
On a more technical level, a story takes a lot of words. And to generate words and phrases and images and so… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Whole swaths of the book [Lincoln in the Bardo] are made up of verbatim quotes from various historical sources, which I cut… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I think that tri [to Ram Bahadur Bomjon] was the first time I'd even seen something that made me think, or really… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Stories, as much as we like to talk about them, retrospectively, as emanations of theme or worldview or intention, occur primarily as… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
In the absolute sense - kind of from the God's-eye view - God might feel like, "I made this thing that has… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The way I understood purgatory - and maybe you've got a different version - but in Chicago in the '70s, the idea… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I'm from a pretty working-class background, and I really worked hard in my life to eradicate those parts of myself that were… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
In the Buddhist texts, some of them say, when you die, basically that wild horse gets cut loose, and the mind is… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I've been reading about and writing about the Civil War period and it is so striking that slavery was never made right… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
[Reading Swing Time] made me a feel a little bit like when I used to read David [Foster] Wallace. Like, "I can't… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Success is like a mountain in front of you that keeps growing. If you're not careful, it will take up your whole life. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“Wow wow wow is all I can say! Remember how I always buy lunchtime Scratch-Off ticket? Have I said? Maybe did not say? Well,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“None of it was real; nothing was real. Everything was real; inconceivably real, infinitely dear. These and all things started as nothing, latent within… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“We must see God not as a Him (some linear rewarding fellow) but an IT, a great beast beyond our understanding, who wants something… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
America, to me, should be shouting all the time, a bunch of shouting voices, most of them wrong, some of them nuts, but please,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
In my case, when I am trying to be "kind" I often default in a sort of toothless loving-all stance that is, actually, not… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Whatever your supposed politics are - left, right - if you put it in a human connection, most people will rise to the occasion… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“A Clinton staffer tells me his theory. Think about Frank Sinatra, he says: born to sing. Think about Willie Mays: born to play ball.… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
We try, we fail, we posture, we aspire, we pontificate - and then we age, shrink, die, and vanish. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“You were torturing a cat," she says. "With a freaking prod." "A prod I built myself in metal shop," he says. "But of course… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“Rachel got up and did this happy little shuffle, like she was some cheerful farmer chick who'd just stepped outside to find the hick… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
What America is, to me, is a guy doesn't want to buy, you let him not buy, you respect his not buying. A guy… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
![“Whole swaths of the book [Lincoln in the Bardo] are made up of verbatim quotes from various historical sources, which I cut up and rearranged to form part of the narrative.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f08/george-saunders-317_book_whole-swaths-of-the-book-lincoln-in-the_1268701.jpg)
![“I think that tri [to Ram Bahadur Bomjon] was the first time I'd even seen something that made me think, or really feel: "Ah, I don't know what's really going on in the world - I think I do, and it feels like I do, but whatever is really going on is, de facto, beyond the scope of my comprehension…” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bc3/george-saunders-317_can-do_i-think-that-tri-to-ram-bahadur-bomjon-w_1355843.jpg)
![“I've been reading about and writing about the Civil War period and it is so striking that slavery was never made right - [Abraham] Lincoln was killed, Reconstruction came along, and all of that inequity was frozen in place and carried forward rather smugly. So I think the burden is now upon us…” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/607/george-saunders-317_abraham_i-ve-been-reading-about-and-writing-abou_3049163.jpg)
![“[Reading Swing Time] made me a feel a little bit like when I used to read David [Foster] Wallace. Like, "I can't play that game. I wish I could, but I can't do it."” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/3c0/george-saunders-317_bits_reading-swing-time-made-me-a-feel-a-litt_3144845.jpg)
