---
title: "1 Words Usually Quotes By Joanna Scott"
description: "1 Words Usually quotes by Joanna Scott. Plus more from Joanna Scott and more Words Usually sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d9/joanna-scott-21641_after_if-the-rules-of-a-language-are-followed_2753088.jpg"
---

> [If the rules of a language are followed, words usually make sense. But these very rules can stir the impulse to rebel. We're obliged to keep trying to convey meaning through correct sentences. After a while, the good-soldier rigidity of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/if-the-rules-of-a-language-are-followed-words-usually-make-sense-but/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9d9/joanna-scott-21641_after_if-the-rules-of-a-language-are-followed_2753088.jpg)

## More by Joanna Scott

> [How wonderful it would be to scatter words as they rise to consciousness, to let them lie where they fall.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/how-wonderful-it-would-be-to-scatter-words-as-they-rise-to/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [Writing that flirts with incoherence can just as readily flounder as writing characterized by simplicity and composure. There is no reliable formula for originality,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/writing-that-flirts-with-incoherence-can-just-as-readily-flounder-as/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [I don't think Donald Barthelme would have minded being called a confusing writer. Confusion was a favorite subject for him in his essays and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/i-don-t-think-donald-barthelme-would-have-minded-being-called-a/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [Vladimir Nabokov on 'Bleak House' or Henry James on 'The House of the Seven Gables' prove that reading can be an exciting subject in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/vladimir-nabokov-on-bleak-house-or-henry-james-on-the-house-of-the/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [With prurient absorption and only minimal risk, we can pretend to be the subject of the lead article on the front page of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/with-prurient-absorption-and-only-minimal-risk-we-can-pretend-to-be/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [The novelist in me is probably hiding behind all the stories I write, looking for ways to connect them and continue the conversation with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/the-novelist-in-me-is-probably-hiding-behind-all-the-stories-i-write/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [Whether art is defined as a representation of or response to reality, it demands an intense engagement with things we haven't managed to understand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/whether-art-is-defined-as-a-representation-of-or-response-to-reality/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [The best liars lie with their eyes rather than with their words. This might put writers at a disadvantage.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/the-best-liars-lie-with-their-eyes-rather-than-with-their-words-this/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [Jim Longenbach, poet, critic, and my husband, is always passing along life-changing books for me to read.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/jim-longenbach-poet-critic-and-my-husband-is-always-passing-along/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [In the early 1980s, I spent a year working as an assistant at the Elaine Markson Literary Agency.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/in-the-early-1980s-i-spent-a-year-working-as-an-assistant-at-the/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [Reviewers try to square the antics of a writer's life with the antics in the fiction. Even satirical verbal play is too often read…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/reviewers-try-to-square-the-antics-of-a-writer-s-life-with-the-antics/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [When we really start searching for the truth in stories, we can find it everywhere, not just in sincere confessions but in the deliberate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/when-we-really-start-searching-for-the-truth-in-stories-we-can-find/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [There are plenty of writers, past and present, from Shakespeare to Henry James to Lydia Davis, who test the limits of coherence and put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/there-are-plenty-of-writers-past-and-present-from-shakespeare-to/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [The past is full of examples of renegade writers who were overlooked in their time not only because their work didn't fit neatly into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/the-past-is-full-of-examples-of-renegade-writers-who-were-overlooked/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

> [My first two books, I was very close to my main character, stuck inside their head. And then with 'Arrogance,' I broke into many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-scott/my-first-two-books-i-was-very-close-to-my-main-character-stuck-inside/)

[Joanna Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-scott/)

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