---
title: "1 Tell Alive Quotes By Daniel Mendelsohn"
description: "1 Tell Alive quotes by Daniel Mendelsohn. Plus more from Daniel Mendelsohn and more Tell Alive sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d40/daniel-mendelsohn-21084_alive_to-be-alive-today-is-to-have-a-story-to_127723.jpg"
---

> [“To be alive today is to have a story to tell. To be alive is precisely to be the hero, the center of a life story. When you can be nothing more than a minor character in somebody else's tale,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/to-be-alive-today-is-to-have-a-story-to-tell-to-be-alive-is-precisely/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d40/daniel-mendelsohn-21084_alive_to-be-alive-today-is-to-have-a-story-to_127723.jpg)

## More by Daniel Mendelsohn

> [I was interested in all kinds of things, whether it be Avatar, Mad Men, Troy, 300, Battlestar Gallactica, or the poems of Horace and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/i-was-interested-in-all-kinds-of-things-whether-it-be-avatar-mad-men/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [“An epic without a focus - without a single action, a coherent plot, a single terrible point to make - was just a very…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/an-epic-without-a-focus-without-a-single-action-a-coherent-plot-a/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [Life is not bad, and it doesn't look more real if it's ugly or it's gritty. Think of your own life. Most of what's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/life-is-not-bad-and-it-doesn-t-look-more-real-if-it-s-ugly-or-it-s/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [“As ingenious as this explanation is, it seems to me to miss entirely the emotional significance of the text- its beautiful and beautifully economical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/as-ingenious-as-this-explanation-is-it-seems-to-me-to-miss-entirely/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [“To be alive today is to have a story to tell. To be alive is precisely to be the hero, the center of a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/to-be-alive-today-is-to-have-a-story-to-tell-to-be-alive-is-precisely/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [We are living in an era of such interesting new forms, and certainly narrative non-fiction has emerged as a major form. People who are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/we-are-living-in-an-era-of-such-interesting-new-forms-and-certainly/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [“This consideration takes us very close to what it is that makes Greek tragedy “tragic.” A play about an unambiguously heroic young woman, someone’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/this-consideration-takes-us-very-close-to-what-it-is-that-makes-greek/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [In the pre-Internet age you had to find gay things - or things that were slightly radioactive with erotic interest. You had to go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/in-the-pre-internet-age-you-had-to-find-gay-things-or-things-that/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [“real tragedy is never a straightforward confrontation between Good and Evil, but is, rather, much more exquisitely and much more agonizingly, a conflict between…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/real-tragedy-is-never-a-straightforward-confrontation-between-good/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [Shopping as lifestyle is really a sub-cultural problem. When the strictures that set you apart or oppressed you, disappear, is there a way, legitimately,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/shopping-as-lifestyle-is-really-a-sub-cultural-problem-when-the/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [You come out of the gate, you've got something new, you're subversive, nobody's ever done it before. But by your fifth novel and your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/you-come-out-of-the-gate-you-ve-got-something-new-you-re-subversive/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [Closeness can lead to emotions other than love. It's the ones who have been too intimate with you, lived in too close quarters, seen…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/closeness-can-lead-to-emotions-other-than-love-it-s-the-ones-who-have/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [The writers we absorb when we're young bind us to them, sometimes lightly, sometimes with iron. In time, the bonds fall away, but if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/the-writers-we-absorb-when-we-re-young-bind-us-to-them-sometimes/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [Gay people, certainly gay people of my generation, at least of a certain echelon - middle-class Americans - have binocular vision. We all are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/gay-people-certainly-gay-people-of-my-generation-at-least-of-a/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

> [“sunt lacrimae rerum, “There are tears in things.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/sunt-lacrimae-rerum-there-are-tears-in-things/)

[Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/)

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