People tend to set themselves up in patterns; something happens, it hurts them, then something similar happens, and - it's happened again!… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
Adultery is like, here's the way it is, and here's exactly what you're supposed to do. It's like cheating at Monopoly. For… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
I think, as we go through life, we can sometimes, while still staying essentially true to ourselves, pick up mannerisms or modes… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
I think that politics in most people's lives expresses itself like that: indirectly, in half thought-out opinions and feelings. And sometimes through… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
She disapproved, but part of her seemed secretly to sympathize with the sickness. It was like she thought everybody had it, and… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
“I carry love wrapped in pain. That is my treasure and soon it will be yours.” — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
“God famously doesn't afflict Job because of anything Job has done, but because he wants to prove a point to Satan. Twenty years later,… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
When you're writing a story, you're creating something of an artificial ending. — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
Partly, I'm worried that no one is saying anything because they are afraid of being seen as politically correct. — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
“...loading your brain with subliminal messages.... How loathsome to turn a sadistic murder into entertainment [in the newspaper] -- and yet how hard not… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
“The place Joanne is building inside [herself] has rooms for all of this. Not just rooms. Beautiful ones. For Karl and Jerry and Karen… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
“Valiantly, he tried to bring his soul to life in the small thing through which it had to live, and it was crushed, again… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
The best definition I've heard is that guilt is about what you've done, shame is about who you are. If something's out of my… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
When my first book came out, it was very disorienting. My health went south. I didn't know how to relate to people. I thought,… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
When he held her that way, she felt so happy that it disturbed her. After he left, it would take her hours to fall… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
“But life can give a lot. If you can’t see inside the heart no matter how you look, then why not look? Why not… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
Sexuality is a place where people are very vulnerable and can be experiencing and embodying very raw forces that they don't really understand and… — Mary Gaitskill Copy Share Image
