I feel nervous because I revere [Zadie Smith] so much. I don't want to be stupid. If I say something stupid, just… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If you want to explore a political idea in the highest possible way, you embody it in the personal, because that's something… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
While writing this book [Lincoln in the Bardo], [idea of inclusion] occurred to me, you either believe in the Constitution or you… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I'm turning 58, and you get that kind of weird, old-guy feeling of you don't have an infinite number of years left… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
You go to the marketplace and there are seventeen consciousnesses moving in and out. Sometimes you want the same shirt that I… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I tend to foster drama via bleakness. If I want the reader to feel sympathy for a character, I cleave the character… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
When you read a short story, you come out a little more aware and a little more in love with the world… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I read Rand and thought, "I want to be one of the earth movers, the scientific people who power the world. I… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
You don't want to be that parent - the one who dresses his kid in a cloth sack when all the other… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
When we talk about adversity, this is the moment when character really gets tested. When things aren't going the way you want… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I don't like that new age posture where you kind of tilt your head. I don't like that posture right now. I… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
So for me the approach has become to go into a story not really sure of what I want to say, try… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Now, we don't really believe these things - intellectually we know better - but we believe them viscerally, and live by them,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
It's not fiction's job to be photographically representative of reality. If I want to make a fictional world where there's no kindness,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Now I began to understand art as a kind of black box the reader enters. He enters in one state of mind… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
What America is, to me, is a guy doesn't want to buy, you let him not buy, you respect his not buying.… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I would kind of, you know, go stand next to some unlucky guy and say eventually, Hi, I'm George. You know, I'm… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
That's what a story must feel like to me. It's not, "I want to write about a gravedigger." But you're walking along… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
One of the ways that we cope with anxiety is by over planning and over controlling. If we know where it's going… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
A writer writes what interests him and what he can manage, and what he can make live, as Flannery O'Connor said. So… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Success is like a mountain in front of you that keeps growing. If you're not careful, it will take up your whole life. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“Wow wow wow is all I can say! Remember how I always buy lunchtime Scratch-Off ticket? Have I said? Maybe did not say? Well,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“None of it was real; nothing was real. Everything was real; inconceivably real, infinitely dear. These and all things started as nothing, latent within… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“We must see God not as a Him (some linear rewarding fellow) but an IT, a great beast beyond our understanding, who wants something… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
America, to me, should be shouting all the time, a bunch of shouting voices, most of them wrong, some of them nuts, but please,… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
In my case, when I am trying to be "kind" I often default in a sort of toothless loving-all stance that is, actually, not… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Whatever your supposed politics are - left, right - if you put it in a human connection, most people will rise to the occasion… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“A Clinton staffer tells me his theory. Think about Frank Sinatra, he says: born to sing. Think about Willie Mays: born to play ball.… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
We try, we fail, we posture, we aspire, we pontificate - and then we age, shrink, die, and vanish. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“You were torturing a cat," she says. "With a freaking prod." "A prod I built myself in metal shop," he says. "But of course… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“Rachel got up and did this happy little shuffle, like she was some cheerful farmer chick who'd just stepped outside to find the hick… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
What America is, to me, is a guy doesn't want to buy, you let him not buy, you respect his not buying. A guy… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
![“I feel nervous because I revere [Zadie Smith] so much. I don't want to be stupid. If I say something stupid, just interrupt me.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/2b5/george-saunders-317_feels_i-feel-nervous-because-i-revere-zadie-sm_396169.jpg)
![“While writing this book [Lincoln in the Bardo], [idea of inclusion] occurred to me, you either believe in the Constitution or you don't. If you do, it's intense in what it wants of us.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/367/george-saunders-317_believe_while-writing-this-book-lincoln-in-the-b_2048122.jpg)
