I've had that situation where I start writing somebody really miserable, and in order to make the story come alive, I have… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The only thing I might have noticed [and this is pretty anecdotal] is that there is some tendency to need to be… — 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
All I really know in nonfiction is that when I come home, I've got all these notes and I'm trying to figure… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
You didn't plan to write a story; it just happened. Well, it could be argued that the next thing you should do… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
And I have finally realized that, you know, it's not a given that my lifespan will accommodate my writing aspirations. It could… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I wasted a lot of years working on my writing and very grandly saying, 'And now... My Novel!,' which would soon be… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I sometimes imagine a great writer as a sort of God-surrogate: the writer is doing his or her human-best to emulate what… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I think each writer has to seek her most energetic prose style. She has to find a way to write so that… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Humor is what happens when we're told the truth quicker and more directly than we're used to. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I guess: People who are comfortable enough with reality to allow other sorts of realities and other mindsets to just be, and… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
There are things that are shadow sides of the creative energy that are negative and all that kind of stuff. The only… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
[Writing] is almost like those boats that sit really low in the water; they look kind of ugly. And then you get… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I'm repledging myself to human-scale values. As a fiction writer, the best data comes through the senses and is then processed through… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I came away believing and really deeply troubled by is the extent to which you can have two well-intentioned people talking in… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
For me, the fiction writer's job is to take the small, stupid process of learning to use an iPhone - and suddenly… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I don't feel like I have the intelligence to really inhabit a consistently high level of prose. — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Intelligent, heartfelt stories that tell a whole new set of truths about growing up American. Julie Orringer writes with virtuosity and depth… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
The generalizing writer is like the passionate drunk, stumbling into your house mumbling: I know I'm not being clear, exactly, but don't… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
One lesson I learned the hard way, early in my career, was that if I tried to write to be smart or… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
“The writer,' said Donald Barthelme, 'is one who, embarking upon a task, does not know what to do.' In this mode of… — 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
As a writer I'm essentially just trying to impersonate a first-time reader, who picks up the story and has to decide, at… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
I think the trick of being a writer is to basically put your cards out there all the time and be willing… — George Saunders Copy Share Image
Writing and reading and speaking with specificity and skill has never seen more important to me than it does at this moment.… — 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
![“While writing this book [Lincoln in the Bardo], [idea of…” 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)
![“[Writing] is almost like those boats that sit really low…” quote by George Saunders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/ed7/george-saunders-317_beautiful_writing-is-almost-like-those-boats-that_2266941.jpg)
![“I believe that, when [meeting of writer and reader] happens…” 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)
