I tell people not to write too soon about their lives. Writing about yourself too young is loaded with psychological complexities. — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
On a piece of prose, you have to work at least six hours a day. I don't know how you can do… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
Poetry privileges music and is aesthetically more challenging. Prose privileges information and is emotionally more challenging. — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
Prose cannot compete with the economy of poetry, the ability to have a full artistic experience in a short period of time. — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
I think we fall in love and become adults and become citizens in a way by writing stories about ourselves. — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
“In some ways, writing a memoir is knocking yourself out with your own fist, if it’s done right.” — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
Success has affected my self-definition in that I have more money. Writers pooh-pooh that idea, but it's a huge deal. — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
The thing I have to do as a writer, and that God permits me to do, is that I have to be… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
Most great writers suffer and have no idea how good they are. Most bad writers are very confident. Be willing to be… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
Writing about prayer to a secular audience is tap-dancing on the radio. I want to say, 'Gee whiz, isn't this great,' and… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
Young writers often mistakenly choose a certain vein or style based on who they want to be, unconsciously trying to blot out… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
My idea of art is, you write something that makes people feel so strongly that they get some conviction about who they… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
I always say that a poet loves the world, and the prose writer needs to create an alternative world. — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
Be willing to be a child and be the Lilliputian in the world of Gulliver. — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
I do have a really good memory. I mean, like, I can remember all the phone numbers of everybody on the street I grew… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
Ninety percent of what's wrong with you could be cured with a hot bath, says God from the bowels of the subway. but we… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
I always say that a poet loves the world, and the prose writer needs to create an alternative world. — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
“And Meredith says that reminds her of a Camus novel, the one about the plague, and she tells the story of it, the tale… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
When people suffer, their relationships usually suffer as well. Period. And we all suffer because, as the Buddha says, that's the nature of being… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
I'm not nearly smart enough or imaginative enough to tackle the novel form. Never happen. — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
“Then it hits me. I’m actually kneeling before a toilet. The throne, as other drunks call it. How many drunken nights and slungover mornings… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
“I think about the story of Job I heard in Carol Sharp's Sunday school. How he sort of learned to lean into feeling hurt… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
I believe in God, but even if you don't, you can believe in a self, the person who is innately who you are. Once… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
Love is the only passion which includes in its dreams the happiness of someone else. — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
It strikes me that whatever advantages there are to being a boy--getting to stay out late and having other people wash your clothes and… — Mary Karr Copy Share Image
