I begin by writing paragraphs that don’t have an immediate relation to a plot. The sound of the story comes first. — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
There isn't a story written that isn't about blood and money. People and their relationship to each other is the blood, the… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
When I was about twenty-one, I published a few poems. Maybe I wrote a couple of stories before, but I really began… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
Every time you finish something ... you figure you've finally learned to write, right? Then you start something else and it turns… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
…I go through a story for lies. I might discover the lie of trying to show off. Sometimes they’re lies of character.… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
As an older person, I do feel an obligation to tell the story about what was really happening in the fifties, sixties,… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
I didn't intend to become a short-story writer. I became one because I finished a couple of short stories and realized that's… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
That's the trouble with stories. People start out fantastic. You think they're extraordinary, but it turns out as the work goes along,… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
My family were Russian Jews. They got you to read as soon as you could. And then assumed you would read a… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
Here I am in the garden laughing an old woman with heavy breasts and a nicely mapped face how did this happen… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
“Near home I ran through our park, where I had aired my children on weekends and late-summer afternoons. I stopped at the northeast playground,… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
Old age is not a good thing. It can be really hard, and those of us who have it a little easier should keep… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
Well, by now you must know yourself, honey, whatever you do, life don't stop. It only sits a minute and dreams a dream. — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
The women's movement was coming, but I didn't know it in 1956-1957, when I began to write. — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
It wasn't until I lived in the countryside that I began to understand the life of the countryside and the people in it and… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
…I go through a story for lies. I might discover the lie of trying to show off. Sometimes they’re lies of character. Sometimes they… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
I didn't intend. The word "intend" is the wrong word for what I do. It's just that it's something you do, and you can't… — Grace Paley Copy Share Image
