It's not fiction's job to be photographically representative of reality. If I want to make a fictional world where there's no kindness,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
One of the inspiring things about Susan Sarandon career is that there's a quality of real fearlessness in it - you seem… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
A work of art is something produced by a person, but is not that person — it is of her, but is… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
There were several points where I would kind of turn to the book and say, "Get thee behind me." I don't think… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Reading is a form of prayer, a guided meditation that briefly makes us believe we're someone else, disrupting the delusion that we're… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Now I began to understand art as a kind of black box the reader enters. He enters in one state of mind… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I'm starting to withdraw from [technology] as much as I can. I don't do much of the social media stuff. Like, if… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I see this quality [real interest and joy] in the work of [Pavel] Chekhov, of course, and [Alexei] Tolstoy and really just… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I'm finding, as I get older, that I'm not much of a believer in redemption. I mean, I believe in redemption in… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I often think about image, and image is something that - but in truth, the real artistic process, as I've understood it,… — 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
Still, accomplishment is unreliable. "Succeeding," whatever that might mean to you, is hard, and the need to do so constantly renews itself… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
As a kid, I had a real fascination with perverse, off-color, and kind of risky things, and I also had a very… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Just through the process of trying to make the living and the dead feel real, all these little benefits came out. And… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I've had that situation where I start writing somebody really miserable, and in order to make the story come alive, I have… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
There might be a different model for a literary community that's quicker, more real-time, and involves more spontaneity. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Each of us is born with a series of built-in confusions that are probably somehow Darwinian. These are: (1) we're central to… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I guess: People who are comfortable enough with reality to allow other sorts of realities and other mindsets to just be, and… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
In real life, when you have an emotional experience, it's never just because of the thing that's been said. There's the backstory.… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
We've got a real problem with social media that we didn't know we were going to have. It's almost like the demons… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I often wonder if there are certain areas of real life that are roped off, with a sign saying, "Art, don't come… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Of course there's objective truth, but when we're looking at people's accounts of it, it seems the real truth lies in the… — 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
Whatever happens, we can deal with it if we admit that it's happening and so on. So to be comfortable with what… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The one thing I noticed retroactively was that the energy at those Trump rallies was off the charts compared to the Hillary… — 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
![“I'm starting to withdraw from [technology] as much as I can. I don't do much of the social media stuff. Like, if I'm on Facebook, it changes my relation to the real world in a way that makes me feel sick - almost like I've had too much sugar or something.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b68/george-saunders-317_feels_i-m-starting-to-withdraw-from-technology_1139204.jpg)
![“I see this quality [real interest and joy] in the work of [Pavel] Chekhov, of course, and [Alexei] Tolstoy and really just about any great writer.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/df2/george-saunders-317_chekhov_i-see-this-quality-real-interest-and-joy_1147729.jpg)
![“I guess: People who are comfortable enough with reality to allow other sorts of realities and other mindsets to just be, and then to regard these with real interest and joy [and the joy appears in the prose quality itself].” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f7b/george-saunders-317_comfortable_i-guess-people-who-are-comfortable-enoug_2220701.jpg)
![“In real life, when you have an emotional experience, it's never just because of the thing that's been said. There's the backstory. It's like [Ernest] Hemingway's iceberg theory - the current emotional moment is the tip of the iceberg and all of the past is the seven-eighths of the iceberg that's…” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/999/george-saunders-317_currents_in-real-life-when-you-have-an-emotional_2358315.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/img-quotes/843/george-saunders-317_books_from-the-beginning-of-the-lincoln-in-the_3136511.jpg)
