“When mannequins have nipples, it's a cold-hearted world.” — Roy Blount, Jr Cold hearted Copy Share Image
Anyone who undertakes the literary grind had better like playing around with words. — Roy Blount, Jr Grind Copy Share Image
The first time I walked into a library, I got so excited I almost wet my pants. — Roy Blount, Jr Excited Copy Share Image
That's American English for you: more roots than a mangrove swamp. — Roy Blount, Jr American english Copy Share Image
According to scholars of linguistics, the relation between a word and its meaning is arbitrary. — Roy Blount, Jr Arbitrary Copy Share Image
Perhaps the truth is that heavy literature blooms in extremes of temperature. — Roy Blount, Jr Books Copy Share Image
I like weeding, but I tend to think of it as a solitary activity. — Roy Blount, Jr Activity Copy Share Image
There will be birthdays in the next twelve months; books keep well; they're easy to wrap: buy those books now. Buy replacements… — Roy Blount, Jr Any Copy Share Image
Vincent van Gogh's mother painted all of his best things. The famous mailed decapitated ear was a figment of the public relations… — Roy Blount, Jr Artist Copy Share Image
Being president of too many well-meaning organizations put my father into an early grave. The lesson in this was not lost on… — Roy Blount, Jr Father Copy Share Image
I've never thought it was necessary to make fun of people - you can find fun in people without necessarily mocking them. — Roy Blount, Jr Comedy Copy Share Image
Somebody informed me recently that the key to every art, from writing to gardening to sculpture, is creativity. I beg to differ. — Roy Blount, Jr Art Copy Share Image
I just think lots of words have physicality. How about the word 'wobble?' You think that's arbitrary? When you say the word… — Roy Blount, Jr Arbitrary Copy Share Image
A good heavy book holds you down. It's an anchor that keeps you from getting up and having another gin and tonic. — Roy Blount, Jr Book Copy Share Image
Contemporary American children, if they are old enough to grasp the concept of Santa Claus by Thanksgiving, are able to see through… — Roy Blount, Jr Able Copy Share Image
Obama's got a great sense of humor, but mainly he has a great thinking presence, which is uncommon. It's hard to imagine… — Roy Blount, Jr Able Copy Share Image
I think a writer is not an ideal husband... Writers tend to get off into their own heads and not notice the… — Roy Blount, Jr Husband Copy Share Image
A dog will make eye contact. A cat will, too, but a cat's eyes don't even look entirely warm-blooded to me, whereas… — Roy Blount, Jr Cat Copy Share Image
Obama's the most thoughtful-sounding president I can remember. He seems to be saying what he wants to say, and that is a… — Roy Blount, Jr I can Copy Share Image
I am open to the accusation that I see compost as an end it itself. But we do grow some real red… — Roy Blount, Jr Accusation Copy Share Image
I heard on public radio recently, there's a thing called Weed Dating. Singles get together in a garden and weed and then… — Roy Blount, Jr Dating Copy Share Image
When I weed, I like to get off into my own head. For one thing, my wife plants and I have trouble… — Roy Blount, Jr Hops Copy Share Image
English is an outrageous tangle of those derivations and other multifarious linguistic influences, from Yiddish to Shoshone, which has grown up around… — Roy Blount, Jr Ancestor Copy Share Image
I do not know what the cat can have eaten. Usually I know exactly what the cat has eaten. Not only have… — Roy Blount, Jr Bark Copy Share Image
The North isn't a place. It's just a direction out of the South. — Roy Blount, Jr South Copy Share Image
It's my belief that sanity lies in realizing that reality is not exactly what we had in mind. — Roy Blount, Jr Belief Copy Share Image
Mozart combined high formality and playfulness that delights as no other composition in any other medium does. — Roy Blount, Jr Composition Copy Share Image
Ham's substantial, ham is fat. Ham is firm and sound. Ham's what God was getting at When He made pigs so round. — Roy Blount, Jr Cooking Copy Share Image
Studying literature at Harvard is like learning about women at the Mayo Clinic. — Roy Blount, Jr Books Copy Share Image
We don't want bookstores to die. Authors need them, and so do neighborhoods. — Roy Blount, Jr Authors Copy Share Image
In the beginning, Atlanta was without form, and void; and it still is. — Roy Blount, Jr Atlanta Copy Share Image
I think what's really hard is making sense and making what you write clear and smooth-flowing. — Roy Blount, Jr Clear Copy Share Image
Think about scary movies: There's a fine line between horror and humor. — Roy Blount, Jr Cinema Copy Share Image
An author is a person who can never take innocent pleasure in visiting a bookstore again. — Roy Blount, Jr Books Copy Share Image
The more you try to pin a word down, the more you realize that it has its own cape, sword and little… — Roy Blount, Jr Cape Copy Share Image
Many a person has been saved from summer alcoholism, not to mention hypertoxicity, by Dostoyevsky. — Roy Blount, Jr Alcoholism Copy Share Image
