Never Quotes by Edmund White

9 Never quotes by Edmund White

White’s “never” reflections are thoughtful and incisive, providing a brief yet rich sense of the depth that marks his prose.

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I hate writing. I almost never write. I write against deadlines. And when I'm teaching, I'm focused on that.

Edmund White

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I was never an assimilationist. I always thought gays had some special mission.

Edmund White

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I never liked my father. He really was a dullard and misanthrope. My mother and he were married for 22, years and…

Edmund White

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I've always been impelled to say the truth. When I was 14, in 1954, I already wrote a gay novel, though I'd…

Edmund White

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It's true that Paris is made up of equal parts of social conservatism and anarchic experimentation, but foreigners never quite know where…

Edmund White

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If bigots oppose gay marriage so vehemently, it must be because marriage is a defining institution for them; gays will never be…

Edmund White

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Early on, after gay liberation, there was an almost Stalinist pressure from gay critics and even gay readers to write about positive…

Edmund White

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Originally, I was against gay marriage because I was opposed to all marriage, being an old-fashioned gay bohemian. The straight people I…

Edmund White

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If I had been straight, I would have been an entirely different person. I would never have turned toward writing with a…

Edmund White

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More by Edmund White

The talk shows in the States want celebrities, not authors. In France, it is different; writers are called upon to comment on everything. They…

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Just like Barack Obama, my views on gay marriage have evolved, and now I am a reluctant groom.

Edmund White

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In 'A Boy's Own Story' and 'Jack Holmes and His Friend,' my idea was to take someone totally different from my real self and,…

Edmund White

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Everyone seems agreed that writing about sex is perilous, partly because it threatens to swamp highly individualised characters in a generic, featureless activity (much…

Edmund White

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'The Sound of Things Falling' may be a page turner, but it's also a deep meditation on fate and death. Even in translation, the…

Edmund White

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If you're a beach person or a golfer, Key West is not for you. Most of the sand has been imported, and the water…

Edmund White

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First, I was opposed to gay marriage because it seemed like one more way that gays were wanting to assimilate. When I realized the…

Edmund White

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From my mother I learned just how violent and unquenchable a woman's loneliness can be. She had been sheltered excessively by her husband and…

Edmund White

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From an early age, I had the idea that writing was truth-telling. It's on the record. Everybody can see it. Maybe it goes back…

Edmund White

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Since, in the best Southern tradition, I was named Edmund Valentine White III, sometimes when people look up my books on Amazon they find…

Edmund White

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When I was young, I despised old people. I was provincial and narrow-minded. It's the reason I stayed stupid so long. If you only…

Edmund White

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Key West is the place where your sickly house plant back in New York grows to 10 ft. It's also the place where an…

Edmund White

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“In the past, when gays were very flamboyant as drag queens or as leather queens or whatever, that just amused people. And most of…

Edmund White

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When a woman falls in love with me, I feel guilty. I am convinced that it's pure obstinacy that keeps me from reciprocating her…

Edmund White

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While writing 'City Boy,' I relied mainly on my own memories. In particular, I was able to describe the effect of gay liberation on…

Edmund White

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