“How could we have been otherwise? Or, being that way, have done otherwise? We were that way, at that time, and had… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
It blew my mind, reading Swing Time, that I could take any sentence in the book, and it was one of the… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
One of the ideas that runs through this book [Lincoln in the Bardo] is this Buddhist notion that the mind is incredibly… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Twitter is a deliberate abstention. Somehow I hate the idea of there always being, in the back of my mind, this little… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“By honing the sentences you used to describe the world, you changed the inflection of your mind, which changed your perceptions.” — George Saunders Copy Share Image
From the beginning [of the Lincoln in the Bardo], I actually had it in mind not to write a novel. I'd kind… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The chances of a person breaking through their own habits and sloth and limited mind to actually write something that gets out… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I think about how I conceptualize the audience. The trick is that they've got to be smarter and more worldly than me.… — 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
“The writer,' said Donald Barthelme, 'is one who, embarking upon a task, does not know what to do.' In this mode of… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
My mind has an obsessive, neurotic quality, but I also have a very hard work ethic. I know that a lot of… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“Dad had once said, Trust your mind, Rob. If it smells like shit but has writing across it that says Happy Birthday… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Whole idea is really intriguing to me. If you took snapshots of ourselves throughout the day, the way that our mind is… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
My view is that our minds are incredibly powerful animals that are, during life, kept somewhat in check by the load of… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The mind is a machine that is constantly asking: What would I prefer? Close your eyes, refuse to move, and watch what… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The switch that I'd like to throw on is the one that says, "Look, you're a human being whose mind is every… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“The mind is a machine that is constantly asking: What would I prefer? Close your eyes, refuse to move, and watch what… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“The mind, it occurs to me, is an engine. There is an ambient mode in which the mind sits idling, before there… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I say yes to the hot bath and the sandwich - to getting ourselves into the best possible mental shape to identify… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“In the beginning, there’s a blank mind. Then that mind gets an idea in it, and the trouble begins, because the mind… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“One of pleasures of parenting, future reader: parent can positively influence kid, make moment kid will remember for rest of life, moment… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
What I really found myself interested in was the idea that our minds our so powerful and when we're living, the mind… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
My mind goes really quickly and I tend to talk really fast, as you've probably heard, I sometimes lose track of my… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“[P]eople think of compassion as, like, kindness. The image comes to mind of some nice New Age guy bending to something with… — 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
“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
“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
“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
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
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
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
“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
We try, we fail, we posture, we aspire, we pontificate - and then we age, shrink, die, and vanish. — George Saunders Copy Share
“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
“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
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
What good the prophet in the wilderness may do is incremental and personal. It's good for us to hear someone speak the irrational truth.… — George Saunders Copy Share
We're in the transition between birth and death. But the one that people often know about is the transition between the moment of death… — George Saunders Copy Share
You don't want to be that parent - the one who dresses his kid in a cloth sack when all the other kids are… — George Saunders Copy Share
![“One of the ideas that runs through this book [Lincoln in the Bardo] is this Buddhist notion that the mind is incredibly powerful; not the brain but the mind.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e6e/george-saunders-317_book_one-of-the-ideas-that-runs-through-this_98166.jpg)
![“From the beginning [of the Lincoln in the Bardo], I actually had it in mind not to write a novel. I'd kind of gotten past that point where I felt bad for never having written a novel, even to where I felt really good about it, like I was a real purist.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/843/george-saunders-317_books_from-the-beginning-of-the-lincoln-in-the_3136511.jpg)
![“[P]eople think of compassion as, like, kindness. The image comes to mind of some nice New Age guy bending to something with a look on his face like he’s about to cry. And I don’t think that’s it. I think of it more as a quality of openness that comes with being in a state of unusual attentiveness.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/513/george-saunders-317_attentiveness_p-eople-think-of-compassion-as-like-kind_1295518.jpg)
