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
I love story-writing because I can (more or less, on occasion) actually DO it. That's really the truth. I like the idea… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Night was falling. Birds were singing. Birds were, it occurred to me to say, enacting a frantic celebration of day's end. They… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The great American denial riff is that you can do whatever you like and you always triumph at the end. The world… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
A culture's ability to understand the world and itself is critical to its survival. But today we are led into the arena… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The most hopeful thing in the stories, I hope, is wit. I make it up. If I make up a world in… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
That for me was the big turning point in my artistic life, when my wife and I had our kids. The world… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I'm starting to withdraw from [technology] as much as I can. I don't do much of the social media stuff. Like, if… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I have a sense that God is unfair and preferentially punishes his weak, his dumb, his fat, his lazy. I believe he… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I think that tri [to Ram Bahadur Bomjon] was the first time I'd even seen something that made me think, or really… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If you're going to make an emotional connection with somebody, whether it's in the story or in the world, there's a certain… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The scariest thought in the world is that someday I'll wake up and realize I've been sleepwalking through my life: underappreciating the… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The switch that I'd like to throw on is the one that says, "Look, you're a human being whose mind is every… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I don't use the word lightly, in fact, I don't use it at all, but Ben Marcus is a genius, one of… — 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
I'm from a pretty working-class background, and I really worked hard in my life to eradicate those parts of myself that were… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I believe that, when [meeting of writer and reader] happens and the reader goes out into the world the next day, there's… — 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 watched a documentary about the immigrant crisis around the world. And it does make me blush at all the times I've… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If you think of a work of fiction as a kind of scale model of the world, then the positive valences -… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
What evil does first in the world, maybe, is distract us from our pursuit of goodness. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
When I was a kid, I took 'The Brady Bunch' and 'The Partridge Family' very seriously. It was a world to me… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Don't be afraid to be confused. Try to remain permanently confused. Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The cool parts - the parts that have won Dubai its reputation as 'the Vegas of the Middle East' or 'the Venice… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
If I go to the coffee shop and have a nice interaction with the barista, I don't know what that does for… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I sometimes think that I can't do the bigger thing that [Zadie Smith] do so beautifully, as in Swing Time, with 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'm starting to withdraw from [technology] as much as I can. I don't do much of the social media stuff. Like, if I'm on Facebook, it changes my relation to the real world in a way that makes me feel sick - almost like I've had too much sugar or something.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b68/george-saunders-317_feels_i-m-starting-to-withdraw-from-technology_1139204.jpg)
![“I think that tri [to Ram Bahadur Bomjon] was the first time I'd even seen something that made me think, or really feel: "Ah, I don't know what's really going on in the world - I think I do, and it feels like I do, but whatever is really going on is, de facto, beyond the scope of my comprehension…” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/bc3/george-saunders-317_can-do_i-think-that-tri-to-ram-bahadur-bomjon-w_1355843.jpg)
![“I believe that, when [meeting of writer and reader] happens and the reader goes out into the world the next day, there's some alteration that might possibly inflect the person positively.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c78/george-saunders-317_alterations_i-believe-that-when-meeting-of-writer-an_2524233.jpg)
![“I sometimes think that I can't do the bigger thing that [Zadie Smith] do so beautifully, as in Swing Time, with so much world in it and so much rapturous paint thrown around. I don't think it would be possible to write a book on that scale with as much OCD as I have.” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/793/george-saunders-317_bigger_i-sometimes-think-that-i-can-t-do-the-bi_3125094.jpg)
