--- title: "2 Telling Things Quotes By William Gaddis" description: "2 Telling Things quotes by William Gaddis. Plus more from William Gaddis and more Telling Things sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/951/william-gaddis-7794_dark-room_how-how-fragile-situations-are-but-not-t_2303518.jpg" --- > [“How ... how fragile situations are. But not tenuous. Delicate, but not flimsy, not indulgent. Delicate, that's why they keep breaking, they must break and you must get the pieces together and show it before it breaks again, or put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/how-how-fragile-situations-are-but-not-tenuous-delicate-but-not/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/951/william-gaddis-7794_dark-room_how-how-fragile-situations-are-but-not-t_2303518.jpg) > [“No... it never takes your breath away, telling you things you already know, laying everything out flat, as though the terms and the time, and the nature and the movement of everything were secrets of the same magnitude. They write…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/no-it-never-takes-your-breath-away-telling-you-things-you-already/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e08/william-gaddis-7794_habits_no-it-never-takes-your-breath-away-telli_2463211.jpg) ## More by William Gaddis > [“That after an hour's silence he can say, The one thing I cannot stand is dampness... That's all, it took him an hour to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/that-after-an-hour-s-silence-he-can-say-the-one-thing-i-cannot-stand/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [“What is it they want from a man that they didn't get from his work? What do they expect? What is there left of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/what-is-it-they-want-from-a-man-that-they-didn-t-get-from-his-work/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [“-We live in Rome, he says, turning his face to the room again, -Caligula's Rome, with a new circus of vulgar bestialized suffering in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/we-live-in-rome-he-says-turning-his-face-to-the-room-again-caligula-s/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [“It is a naked city. Faith is not pampered, nor hope encouraged; there is no place to lay one's exhaustion: but instead pinnacles skewer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/it-is-a-naked-city-faith-is-not-pampered-nor-hope-encouraged-there-is/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [“-And there's this twelve thousand dollars item for books. -That supposed to be twelve hundred, the twelve thousand is for paper. towels. Besides there…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/and-there-s-this-twelve-thousand-dollars-item-for-books-that-supposed/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [“There was the cell where Fr. Eulalio, a thriving lunatic of eighty-six who was castigating himself for unchristian pride at having all the vowels…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/there-was-the-cell-where-fr-eulalio-a-thriving-lunatic-of-eighty-six/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [Stupidity is the deliberate cultivation of ignorance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/stupidity-is-the-deliberate-cultivation-of-ignorance/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [“Venerable age had not, for him, arranged that derelict landscape against which it is privileged to sit and pick its nose, break wind, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/venerable-age-had-not-for-him-arranged-that-derelict-landscape/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [“They write for people who read with the surface of their minds, people with reading habits that make the smallest demands on them, people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/they-write-for-people-who-read-with-the-surface-of-their-minds-people/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [We're comic. We're all comics. We live in a comic time. And the worse it gets the more comic we are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/we-re-comic-we-re-all-comics-we-live-in-a-comic-time-and-the-worse-it/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [“Esther liked books out where everyone could see them, a sort of graphic index to the intricate labyrinth of her mind arrayed to impress…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/esther-liked-books-out-where-everyone-could-see-them-a-sort-of/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [“What greater comfort does time afford, than the objects of terror re-encountered, and their fraudulence exposed in the flash of reason?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/what-greater-comfort-does-time-afford-than-the-objects-of-terror-re/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [“The function of this school is custodial. It’s here to keep these kids off the streets until the girls are big enough to get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/the-function-of-this-school-is-custodial-it-s-here-to-keep-these-kids/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [“where would Christianity be today if Jesus had been given ten to twenty with time off for good behavior”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/where-would-christianity-be-today-if-jesus-had-been-given-ten-to/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) > [I see the player piano as the grandfather of the computer, the ancestor of the entire nightmare we live in, the birth of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gaddis/i-see-the-player-piano-as-the-grandfather-of-the-computer-the/) [William Gaddis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gaddis/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/telling-things/william-gaddis/#itemlist", "name": "2 Telling Things Quotes By William Gaddis", "numberOfItems": 2, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“How ... how fragile situations are. But not tenuous. Delicate, but not flimsy, not indulgent. Delicate, that's why they keep breaking, they must break and you must get the pieces together and show it before it breaks again, or put them aside for a moment when something else breaks and turn to that, and all this keeps going on. That's why most writing now, if you read it they go on one two three four and tell you what happened like newspaper accounts, no adjectives, no long sentences, no tricks they pretend, and they finally believe that they really believe that the way they saw it is the way it is ... it never takes your breath away, telling you things you already know, laying everything out flat, as though the terms and the time, and the nature and the movement of everything were secrets of the same magnitude. They write for people who read with the surface of their minds, people with reading habits that make the smallest demands on them, people brought up reading for facts, who know what's going to come next and want to know what's coming next, and get angry at surprises. Clarity's essential, and detail, no fake mysticism, the facts are bad enough. But we're embarrassed for people who tell too much, and tell it without surprise. How does he know what happened? unless it's one unshaven man alone in a boat, changing I to he, and how often do you get a man alone in a boat, in all this ... all this ... Listen, there are so many delicate fixtures, moving toward you, you'll see. Like a man going into a dark room, holding his hands down guarding his parts for fear of a table corner, and ... Why, all this around us is for people who can keep their balance only in the light, where they move as though nothing were fragile, nothing tempered by possibility, and all of a sudden bang! something breaks. Then you have to stop and put the pieces together again. But you never can put them back together quite the same way. You stop when you can and expose things, and leave them within reach, and others come on by themselves, and they break, and even then you may put the pieces aside just out of reach until you can bring them back and show them, put together slightly different, maybe a little more enduring, until you've broken it and picked up the pieces enough times, and you have the whole thing in all its dimensions. 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