She could never be a saint, but she thought she could be a martyr if they killed her quick. — Flannery O'Connor Martyr Copy Share Image
I am not afraid that the book will be controversial, I'm afraid it will not be controversial. — Flannery O'Connor Book Copy Share Image
“Everywhere I go, I am asked if I think university stifles writers. My opinion is that it doesn't stifle enough of them.” — Flannery O'Connor Education Copy Share Image
It began to drizzle rain and he turned on the windshield wipers; they made a great clatter like two idiots clapping in… — Flannery O'Connor Church Copy Share Image
Children know by instinct that hell is an absence of love, and they can pick out theirs without missing. — Flannery O'Connor Absence Copy Share Image
“Don’t let me ever think, dear God, that I was anything but the instrument for Your story-just like the typewriter was mine.” — Flannery O'Connor Dear god Copy Share Image
The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it. — Flannery O'Connor Ability Copy Share Image
“Mrs. May winced. She thought the word Jesus should be kept inside the church building like other words inside the bedroom.” — Flannery O'Connor 1956 Copy Share Image
...I have to write to discover what I am doing. Like the old lady, I don't know so well what I think… — Flannery O'Connor Old lady Copy Share Image
“Virtue must be the only vigorous thing in our lives. Sin is large and stale. You can never finish eating it nor… — Flannery O'Connor Character Copy Share Image
It seems that the fiction writer has a revolting attachment to the poor, for even when he writes about the rich, he… — Flannery O'Connor Attachment Copy Share Image
“There won't be any biographies of me, for only one reason, lives spent between the house and the chicken farm do not… — Flannery O'Connor Humility Copy Share Image
Art never responds to the wish to make it democratic; it is not for everybody; it is only for those who are… — Flannery O'Connor Art Copy Share Image
“The houses were squat and almost identical and each one had a square of grass in front of it like a dog… — Flannery O'Connor Home Copy Share Image
I feel that discussing story-writing in terms of plot, character, and theme is like trying to describe the expression on a face… — Flannery O'Connor Character Copy Share Image
No art is sunk in the self, but rather, in art the self becomes self-forgetful in order to meet the demands of… — Flannery O'Connor Art Copy Share Image
“Listen, lady," he said in a high voice, "if I had of been there I would of known and I wouldn't be… — Flannery O'Connor Three times Copy Share Image
Even in the life of a Christian, faith rises and falls like the tides of an invisible sea. It's there, even when… — Flannery O'Connor Christian Copy Share Image
“The novelist makes his statements by selection, and if he is any good, he selects every word for a reason, every detail… — Flannery O'Connor Books Copy Share Image
Technique in the minds of many is something rigid, something like a formula that you impose on the material; but in the… — Flannery O'Connor Accounts Copy Share Image
Most of us have learned to be dispassionate about evil, to look it in the face and find, as often as not,… — Flannery O'Connor Accepting Copy Share Image
People without hope not only don’t write novels, but what is more to the point, they don’t read them. They don’t take… — Flannery O'Connor Books Copy Share Image
I have found, in short, from reading my own writing, that my subject in fiction is the action of grace in territory… — Flannery O'Connor Action Copy Share Image
“He said he had only a few days ago believed in blasphemy as the way to salvation, but that you couldn't even… — Flannery O'Connor Believed Blasphemy Copy Share Image
“Leave!’ Hazel Motes cried. ‘Go ahead and leave! The truth don’t matter to you. Listen,’ he said, pointing his finger at the… — Flannery O'Connor Atheism Copy Share Image
“Silly that a grocery should depress one—nothing in it but trifling domestic doings—women buying beans—riding children in those grocery go-carts—higgling about an… — Flannery O'Connor Children Copy Share Image
“The novelist with Christian concerns will find in modern life distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem will be to… — Flannery O'Connor Christianity Copy Share Image
“I don’t know how to cure the source-itis except to tell you that I can discover a good many possible sources myself… — Flannery O'Connor Flannery-o-connor Copy Share Image
Behind the newspaper Julian was withdrawing into the inner compartment of his mind where he spent most of his time. This was… — Flannery O'Connor Bears Copy Share Image
“The serious writer has always taken the flaw in human nature for his starting point, usually the flaw in an otherwise admirable… — Flannery O'Connor Human nature Copy Share Image
“He said when he went to sell a man a flue, he asked first about that man's wife's health and how his… — Flannery O'Connor Computers Copy Share Image
“About hope, I am somewhat at a loss. It is so easy to say I hope to—the tongue slides over it. I… — Flannery O'Connor Dear god Copy Share Image
