There are five things that societies do: They reproduce; they produce food; they organize themselves in terms of law; they organize themselves… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Gossip. The more you talk about why people do things, the more ideas you have about how the world works. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Well, in fact everybody - everybody - in the entire nation has enough stuff in their life to write about that's interesting… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
One of the profound effects of economics in our day is that the people with the money and the power have embraced… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Some people do wait their whole lives for something, and it's only when that thing arrives that they find out that they've… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Eavesdrop and write it down from memory - gives you a stronger sense of how people talk and what their concerns are.… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Some novelists are luckier than others in the eras of their formative intellectual years, but all Weltanschauungs return, which means that most novelists have… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
There can never be such a thing as a free market, because it is human nature to cheat, monopolize, and buy off others so… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
The only siblings I have are half-siblings. My nuclear family would have been an extra-suffocating threesome. Instead, I have an interesting brother and sister,… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
How will you know a good farmer when you meet him? He will not ask you for any favors. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
You know what getting married is? It's agreeing to taking this person who right now is at the top of his form, full of… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“We watched the swimmers and sunbathers and I thought about this. Had I faced all the facts? It seemed like I had, but actually,… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“They throw themselves on the waters of the world, and they know they will be borne up.” — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
everything is toxic. That's the point. You can't avoid toxins. Thinking you can is just another symptom of the toxic overload stage. — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“Shame is a distinct feeling. I couldn’t look at my hands around the coffee cup or hear my own laments without feeling appalled, wanting… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
“She could not have created this moment, these lovely faces, these candles flickering, the flash of the silverware, the fragrances of the food hanging… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
Horse racing is really much more intimidating than anything having to do with literature. When I had horses at the racetrack, I would wake… — Jane Smiley Copy Share Image
